Your expat mortgage calculation in the Netherlands comes down to three questions: which parts of your income a lender is allowed to count, what test rate the bank has to use by law, and how much loan-to-value room you actually have. Get one of these wrong in your own back-of-envelope math, and your real borrowing capacity can end up tens of thousands of euros off from what you expected. The rules themselves are the same for everyone living and working in the Netherlands, expat or not; what differs is mostly the paperwork.
Most Dutch lenders start with your gross annual salary and work from there, the same way they would for a Dutch employee. On top of that, structural allowances such as a housing allowance, relocation allowance or international assignment allowance are often included too, provided they are documented in your contract and structural rather than one-off.
Not every lender treats allowances the same way. Some banks count a housing allowance in full, others only partially or not at all, and that difference alone can move your maximum mortgage by tens of thousands of euros. This is exactly the kind of detail worth checking before you assume you know your ceiling.
A bonus is usually treated more cautiously. Because it can vary from year to year, lenders often count only a portion of it, or want a track record of a few years before including it at all.
If you combine a Dutch salary with income from abroad, expect extra scrutiny. Salary generally needs to be paid in euros for a lender to use it directly in the calculation, so foreign-currency income can complicate things even when the amount itself is solid.
Say you use the 30% ruling: most lenders will not let that tax-free portion boost your maximum mortgage, because they generally calculate based on your full gross taxable salary rather than what actually lands in your account after tax.
In other words, the 30% ruling mainly increases your net monthly income, the money you have to live on, not the gross figure that feeds into the mortgage calculation. That distinction surprises a lot of people who assumed a tax-free bonus would automatically translate into more borrowing power.
Per 2026 the ruling still allows 30 percent of your salary to be paid tax-free, for a maximum of five years, provided you meet the eligibility conditions including a minimum salary threshold of around 48,000 euros (lower for younger graduates). From 1 January 2027 the maximum tax-free percentage drops to 27 percent for anyone whose ruling first started in 2024 or later, while people who already held the ruling on or before 31 December 2023 keep the full 30 percent for the rest of their term.
Some lenders go a step further and stress-test your file for what happens after the ruling ends, to make sure the mortgage stays affordable once the tax benefit disappears. It is also worth knowing that the 30% ruling only applies to employees: if you work as a self-employed sole proprietor (eenmanszaak) you cannot use it or the related tax-free reimbursement scheme, while a DGA, a director-major shareholder employed by their own BV, may still qualify if the standard conditions are met.
For fixed-rate periods under 10 years, the AFM, the Dutch financial regulator, requires lenders to test your affordability using a toetsrente, a test interest rate, of around 5 percent in 2026, even when the rate you would actually pay is closer to 3.5 to 4.5 percent, and that gap alone can shrink your maximum mortgage.
Choose a fixed-rate period of 10 years or more instead, and the lender uses your actual contracted rate for the calculation, which usually leaves more borrowing room.
| Fixed-rate period | Rate used for the calculation | Effect on borrowing capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | Toetsrente of around 5% (2026) | Lower maximum mortgage |
| 10 years or more | Actual contracted rate (roughly 3.5% to 4.5% in 2026) | Usually higher maximum mortgage |
To put a number on it, one advisory example showed a household able to borrow around 679,000 euros when the 5 percent toetsrente applied, versus roughly 735,000 euros using a 3.8 percent ten-year fixed rate on the same income. That is a gap of tens of thousands of euros, purely from the interest period chosen, not from anything about the borrower’s income.
For expats this often matters more than average, because allowances, bonuses or a limited-duration 30% ruling are frequently assessed conservatively to begin with. Stacking a short fixed period on top of that can shrink your number twice over.
As an expat, you can finance up to 100 percent of the purchase price in 2026, the same loan-to-value limit that applies to Dutch nationals, rising to 106 percent if part of the extra amount goes toward energy-saving measures such as insulation or a heat pump.
Eligibility itself is broader than most expats expect. You do not need Dutch citizenship or a permanent residence permit to qualify; what you do need is a minimum period of Dutch residence, which varies by lender from around one month to six months or more, plus in most cases a salary paid in euros.
A temporary contract is not automatically a dealbreaker either. If your employer provides a letter of intent, an intentieverklaring, confirming plans to extend or make your position permanent, several lenders will still work with that contract.
None of this changes the borrowing percentages or the interest rates on offer. The differences for expats are almost entirely practical, in how your income and documents get verified, not in worse loan terms.
Lenders need an employment contract, an employer statement, recent payslips and proof of your residence permit before they finalise any number, and on top of the mortgage itself you should budget 3 to 6 percent of the purchase price in 2026 for one-off purchase costs (kosten koper), paid from your own funds.
After signing the preliminary purchase agreement, expect to also put down a deposit (waarborgsom) of 10 percent, either from savings or via a bank guarantee. The typical application process, from submission to final approval, takes around 4 to 6 weeks.
| Cost | Paid from | Tax-deductible in 2026? |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation (taxatie) | Own funds | Yes |
| Notary fee, mortgage deed | Own funds | Yes |
| Mortgage advisory fee | Own funds | Yes |
| Transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) | Own funds | No |
| Buyer’s agent fee (aankoopmakelaar) | Own funds | No |
Not every cost helps you at tax time, and that catches people out. Transfer tax and the buyer’s agent fee are not deductible at all, while the valuation, the notary fee for the mortgage deed and your advisory fee usually are, in the year of purchase.
A missing or incomplete document, an unclear employer statement, or a payslip that does not match your contract, can add weeks to your file while the lender asks follow-up questions, and in a competitive bidding situation that delay is exactly what you cannot afford. Getting your paperwork organised before you view a property, ideally with input from experienced mortgage advisers, is usually the single biggest time-saver in the whole process.
If your mortgage stays under the threshold, it is worth checking NHG, the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie, a government-backed safety net that per 2026 applies up to 470,000 euros (498,200 euros with energy-saving measures) and typically comes with a lower interest rate.
For expats specifically, roughly 70 percent of expat home purchases may now qualify for NHG under the raised 2026 limit, which is a meaningful share given how often expat properties sit near that threshold.
NHG also offers protection you would not otherwise have. If you are forced to sell at a loss because of qualifying circumstances such as job loss, disability, divorce or the death of a partner, NHG can cover the residual debt (restschuld) left over after the sale.
It is worth remembering NHG has no real equivalent in most other countries, so it is one of the more unfamiliar concepts for people moving to the Netherlands, and one that is easy to overlook when you are focused only on the interest rate. If you want a second opinion on your own numbers before you make an offer, you can always get in touch for a no-obligation conversation.
Yes. Dutch mortgage rules do not require citizenship or a permanent residence permit; lenders look at your income, contract and minimum residence period instead.
Not directly. Lenders generally calculate based on your full gross salary, so the ruling mainly increases your net income rather than the amount you can borrow.
Lenders weigh allowances, bonuses and fixed-rate periods differently, so comparing several lenders, rather than asking just one bank, often changes the outcome.
With a complete, verified income file, a realistic calculation and lender-specific advice can usually be arranged well before you need to place a bid.
Want a clear answer on your own numbers? Reach out via @dekredieter, call 020-5753320, or visit www.kredieter.nl to book a no-obligation conversation.
