Share of owner-occupied homes increases

There are some 6.6 million dwellings in the Netherlands today. About 52% of these are owner- occupied homes. This share increases yearly, among other things because more and more newly completed dwellings are owner-occupied houses.

Some 40,000 homes were added to the housing stock in the first three quarters of 2000. Nearly 80% of these were bought by their new occupants. In the year before that 46,000 dwellings were completed in the corresponding period, of which 77% owner-occupied. So buying an own home seems to have become more popular in recent years.

Owning a home age and income related

The higher the income, the larger the share of owner-occupied houses. It is not easy for people aged under thirty to buy a home, because they have a relatively low income. Households with a breadwinner between 35 and 54 years are most likely to own the house they live in, older households least likely.

More owner-occupiers higher up on the housing ladder

Four out of five households who bought their own home in the period 1995-1999 were already on the housing ladder, i.e. they were already the main occupants of a dwelling and moved to another. One in five were starters, in other words this was the first time they moved to a dwelling of which they were the main occupants. People already on and moving up the ladder are generally older, have a larger household and a higher income.

Over half of the one and a half million people moving up the housing ladder, bought their new home. One quarter moved from a rented home to an owner-occupied home and 27% from one owner-occupied to another owner-occupied dwelling.

Thirty-one per cent of starters on the housing market bought a house. Most of these were young two-income households.

André Mares