What are the costs of buying a house in the Netherlands?

Once you've decided that you're staying in the Netherlands for the time being, and are thinking about buying a house, you need to think about your budget. There's not just the house prices to consider, there's also the additional costs of actually getting a mortgage to factor in - and those usually can't be added to your financing. 

Expat Mortgage Platform has written this explainer so you'll be able to work out how much cold, hard cash you need to put aside to buy a house in the Netherlands.

Mortgage expenses

When you buy a house in the Netherlands, the purchase price is just part of the overall cost. There are additional expenses to keep in mind, including transfer tax, notary fees and real estate agent fees.

Arrange your mortgage today with Expat Mortgage Platform

You may also need to pay for a valuation report, a structural survey or insurance policies. In many cases, these costs cannot be fully financed and must be paid out of pocket, although Expat Mortgage Platform can help you structure your mortgage in a way that might mitigate some of these expenses.

Familiarising yourself with these costs early in the process will help you budget effectively and avoid surprises later down the road.

Transfer tax

When you buy a home, you have to pay two percent of the property price to the government. The only times this charge doesn’t apply are if any one of the following statements are true:

• You are a first-time buyer
• You’re purchasing a newly built property
• You’re buying a property from a seller who bought it less than six months previously
• You are between the age of 18 and 35 and your house costs less than 525.000 euros

If any of the above apply to you, you do not have to pay a transfer tax when you buy. If you do have to pay, make sure you factor this cost in when deciding whether to increase your bid on a property.

Civil-law notary

You’ll need a notary to legally transfer the property to your name and register it at the land registry. The costs for this will vary depending on the notary that you choose to use. Typically, the cost of this falls between 900 and as much as 2.000 euros. Expat Mortgage Platform can help find a reputable and well-priced notary from their extensive network of contacts that they have built up through years of helping expats buy properties.

Valuation

Every bank or lender requires an official valuation report in order to approve your mortgage. This will cost you approximately 1.250 euros, depending on both the size of the house - the bigger the house, the more work there is to do - and of course the valuator you choose.

Real estate agent (optional)

Hiring a real estate agent, or a makelaar, is extremely common in the Netherlands, but not actually required in order to buy a house. However, you may find that a Dutch-speaking real estate agent with local knowledge can be a real asset in helping you find a house and negotiating the price. 

Some agents charge a fixed fee that’s usually around 5.000 euros. Others charge between 1,5 percent and 2 percent of the property value. Some charge both, so make sure you shop around and find the service and price that is right for you. Expat Mortgage Platform has a excellent relationship with many real east agents in the Netherlands, and will be happy to help match you up with the right one for you.

National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) (optional)

The National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) is a protection against residual debt if you can’t pay your mortgage due to unemployment, divorce or the inability to work. It will cost you 0.4 percent of the mortgage amount, but you’ll earn your money back quickly because lenders offer much lower interest rates if you make use of this protection. NHG is only available for mortgages that are less than 450.000 euros.

Bank guarantee (optional)

You’ll need to provide the seller with a 10 percent deposit once you’ve signed the purchase agreement. If you can’t provide a 10 percent deposit, you’ll need to get a bank guarantee for that amount. You can expect the bank guarantee to cost you about 1 percent of the amount of the guarantee.

Structural survey (optional)

While not required before buying a house, getting a structural or technical survey is strongly recommended. Spending a little more up-front can help identify potentially expensive problems further down the line, and gives you the chance to either back out of buying or to renegotiate the purchase price, taking required future works into account.

A structural survey to inspect your home will cost between 250 and 900 euros, depending on the size of the property.

Potential additional costs

Of course, every house-buying journey is unique. These are the main costs that most people will come across when purchasing a property in the Netherlands. However, other services, opportunities and costs that you may want to ask Expat Mortgage Platform about include:

• Organising your mortgage or housing insurance
• Organising your medical report
• Checking your purchase agreement
• Loss-financing
• Subsidies
• Ground-lease (Erfpacht) buyouts

Tax deductible expenses

Some of the one-off expenses connected with buying a property are tax-deductible. These include:

• The civil-law notary fee 
• The valuation fee
• The National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG)

It is always worth engaging the services of a professional tax advisor for at least the first year that you have bought a property. They are aware of all the applicable rules and which expenses are tax deductible and which aren't, and they can save you a considerable amount on your tax bill.

Why should I pay to work with Expat Mortgage Platform?

In the same way that it's important to know about all the above costs before embarking on buying a house, it’s important to know how much help from Expat Mortgage Platform costs, which is why they are always transparent about their costs beforehand. But it’s even more important to understand how you can profit from their help.

Good mortgage advice can actually help you save; a wrong decision could cost you a significant amount of money. Expat Mortgage Platform is here to make sure you don’t get overcharged or spend money you don’t need to.

If you're still at the planning stages, you can use their free online mortgage calculator to determine how much you are likely to be able to borrow for your house.

What can Expat Mortgage Platform do for me?

They don’t just take care of your mortgage; they arrange everything for you. They go the extra mile to make it possible to buy your dream house, reduce your out-of-pocket costs and make sure you can move in quickly. But above all, they ensure that you get the best mortgage for the lowest rates!

Fees start from 3.995 euros for arranging your mortgage, but all costs will be communicated upfront so you don’t encounter any surprises. Once you sign an agreement, they start working for you. Until then, all talks are free, so you can be really confident you are making the right choice. Contact Expat Mortgage Platform for a free consultation today.