As an expat, you don’t need a deposit for a Dutch mortgage in the way you might expect from your home country. Dutch lenders can finance up to 100 percent of the purchase price, so the cash you actually need covers the buying costs (kosten koper) rather than a down payment on the property itself. That distinction trips up almost every expat client in the first meeting.
In many countries, a mortgage assumes you put down 10 or 20 percent of the property value yourself. In the Netherlands, that’s not how it works. Because expats can finance up to 100 percent of the purchase price under the same rules that apply to Dutch nationals, there’s no mandatory down payment tied to the mortgage itself.
What you do need is own funds for the costs that sit on top of the purchase price, known as kosten koper (buyer’s costs). These typically add up to roughly 3 to 6 percent of the purchase price, and lenders won’t finance them into the mortgage. So while there’s technically no “deposit” in the classic sense, you still need real cash on hand before you can complete a purchase.
This is often the single biggest source of confusion for expats who assume that 100 percent financing means 100 percent, full stop, with nothing extra required.
Once your bid is accepted and you sign the preliminary purchase agreement (koopovereenkomst), you’ll typically be asked to provide a waarborgsom, a deposit of 10 percent of the purchase price. This is where most expats assume they’ve found their “real” deposit, and in a sense they have, just not a permanent one.
The waarborgsom isn’t an extra cost. It’s a security deposit held until completion at the notary, at which point it’s applied toward the purchase price you’re already financing. You can pay it from your own savings, or arrange a bank guarantee (bankgarantie) through your advisor instead of transferring the full amount in cash.
For expats who’ve just moved their savings across currencies or are still settling banking arrangements in the Netherlands, a bank guarantee is often the more practical route, since it avoids tying up a large cash sum for weeks while the transaction completes.
Even with 100 percent financing available, several one-off purchase costs must come from your own funds rather than the mortgage. Knowing which of these are tax-deductible and which aren’t makes a real difference to your total outlay.
| Cost item | Paid from own funds? | Tax-deductible? |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation (taxatie) | Yes | Yes |
| Notary fees, mortgage deed | Yes | Yes |
| Mortgage advisory fees | Yes | Yes |
| NHG costs (if applicable) | Yes | Yes |
| Transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) | Yes | No |
| Purchasing agent (aankoopmakelaar) | Yes | No |
Notice that transfer tax and purchasing agent fees are the two items you can’t deduct, even though you still have to pay them upfront. That’s an important budgeting point, since these are often the largest individual costs on the list.
Yes. There’s no nationality-based difference in loan-to-value limits for expats compared to Dutch nationals. You don’t need Dutch citizenship or a permanent residence permit to qualify, and the maximum you can borrow is the same 100 percent of the property’s appraised value, or up to 106 percent if part of the loan goes toward energy-saving measures like insulation or solar panels.
What does differ for expats is the documentation side, not the borrowing terms. Lenders will look closely at your employment contract, payslips, and residence status, and salary generally needs to be paid in euros. Some lenders also count structural allowances, such as housing or relocation allowances, toward your qualifying income if they’re clearly documented in your employment contract, which can meaningfully affect how much you can borrow.
The average mortgage application process for expats takes around 4 to 6 weeks from application to final approval, similar to the timeline for Dutch buyers, though gathering the right documents early tends to be the part that actually determines whether that timeline holds.
If your mortgage falls within the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG) limit, which rises to 470,000 euros in 2026 (or 498,200 euros including energy-saving measures), you’re not required to put down extra cash because of NHG itself. What NHG does is offer a safety net if you can no longer make payments due to circumstances like job loss or divorce, and it typically comes with a lower interest rate from the lender.
An estimated 70 percent of expat home purchases may now qualify for NHG under the raised limit, which is worth checking early, since it can shape both your monthly costs and your bidding strategy on a property.
The one-time NHG fee (borgtochtprovisie) is 0.4 percent of the mortgage amount, and this is one more cost that needs to come from your own funds rather than being added to the loan.
A realistic way to prepare is to set aside kosten koper of roughly 3 to 6 percent of the purchase price in accessible savings, separate from anything you plan to use for furnishing or moving costs. On a 500,000 euro property, that’s somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 euros in cash, purely for the buying costs, not the mortgage itself.
On top of that, factor in the waarborgsom of 10 percent, which you can often cover with a bank guarantee instead of cash if your savings are still in transit or held abroad. Speaking with an advisor early in the process helps you understand exactly which of these amounts need to be liquid cash and which can be arranged through a guarantee, well before you’re under time pressure from a bid.
Say you’re an expat with a freshly signed employment contract, savings still partly sitting in a foreign account, and a home in mind in Amsterdam. You know you don’t need a traditional deposit, but you’re not sure how much cash you actually need to have ready for kosten koper (buyer’s costs) and the waarborgsom (deposit held after signing).
De Kredieter starts by laying out clearly which part of your budget needs to be in cash and which part can be arranged through a bank guarantee instead, so you don’t have to transfer money from abroad unnecessarily. Next, it’s checked whether you fall within the NHG limit, which often means a better interest rate, and your file is prepared so you can bid without surprises.
Get in touch via the contact form, follow @dekredieter, call 020-5753320, or check www.kredieter.nl for a no-obligation conversation.
