What this rate measures
Dutch banks report to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) the rate and the amount of every new loan they make to households for buying a home, and DNB publishes them on its mortgage rates dashboard, split by the rentevaste periode, the period for which the rate is fixed.
This page shows the ECB's composite of the same data, the "cost of borrowing for households for house purchase", from the ECB's Data Portal. It averages the rates for each fixed period, weighting each by a 24-month moving average of how much was lent at it, so a month in which many borrowers switch to a shorter fix does not jolt the line. Because every euro country is compiled the same way, you can set it beside Germany or Finland. DNB's own averages by fixed period are a different cut of the data and will not match it exactly.
It is the agreed annual rate on new loans from banks. Fees, advice costs and the NHG premium are not in it, and neither are loans from insurers and pension funds, which lend a large share of Dutch mortgages but are not banks.
How Dutch mortgages are priced
A Dutch mortgage fixes its rate for a rentevaste periode you choose, from a year to thirty, and you agree a new rate when it ends. DNB reported in August 2025 that from 2020 to 2022 many households fixed for longer than ten years, and that since 2023 more than half of new bank mortgages have fallen in the five to ten year band. That mix matters for this line: a shift towards shorter or longer fixes changes the average even if no lender changes a price.
Fixed rates are priced from long-term market rates, which move with expectations of the ECB deposit facility rate over the whole fixed period, not with the rate on the day. A loan in its fixed period does not move when the ECB does.
Two features of the Dutch system change what a rate costs you:
- Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG). For a one-off premium, a government-backed fund, the Waarborgfonds Eigen Woningen, guarantees your loan to the lender and can support you if you cannot pay after losing your job, a separation, disability or a partner's death. Because the lender carries less risk, NHG loans are usually offered at a lower rate.
- Hypotheekrenteaftrek. Interest on a loan for your own home is deductible from income tax, for at most thirty years, and for loans from 2013 only if you repay at least on an annuity or linear schedule within thirty years. In the top tax band the deduction is limited to the rate of the band below, so your net cost depends on your income as well as your rate.
Comparing it with a quote
Read this line as the level of the bank market, not as your rate. Your quote depends on the fixed period, whether the loan has NHG, how much of the home's value you borrow, and the lender, which may not be a bank. Compare quotes for the same rentevaste periode and use the annual percentage rate in each offer, which includes the costs this series leaves out.
Put a quote into the mortgage calculator for the Netherlands to see the gross monthly payment before the deduction, check what your income supports with the debt-to-income calculator, and weigh buying against renting with the rent vs buy calculator.
Reading the chart and the table
Each point is one month, dated the first of the month it covers, from January 2003, when the harmonised euro area statistics began. Figures appear about five weeks after the month ends, and recent months can be revised. The table lists every month and the CSV download carries the ECB's own values.