Student debt will continue to weigh on mortgages, if Nibud has its way

Keep the rules on student debt and mortgages as they are, Nibud advises. And the government does indeed seem to have little appetite for changing things for first-time buyers.

It remains a sensitive political issue: former students are affected by their student debt when they want to buy their first home. The higher their debt, the less they can borrow from a mortgage lender.

Could the rules be made a little more flexible? It is a question that keeps coming up in politics. From VVD to Pro and from JA21 to SP, many parties want to make it easier to buy a house despite having student debt.

Borrowing fear

Debates on the issue are taking place against the backdrop of the student loan system, when the government wanted to tackle students’ ‘fear of borrowing’. The idea was that they should not be so afraid to take out a loan, because they would surely earn enough later on.

But repaying student debt means you have less money left each month to pay your mortgage, Nibud explains, and mortgage lenders have to take that into account.

The rules for taking student loans into account can therefore remain unchanged, according to new advice to the government. The rules were already adjusted slightly in 2024, and Nibud says no further changes are needed. The system generally works well, the parties involved told Nibud.

Smaller mortgage

How much does student debt count against you? Nibud gives an example: with a debt of 20 thousand euros (and monthly repayments of 70 euros), the mortgage available is currently 17,708 euros lower.

The government has no plans to relax the rules, a letter to the House of Representatives accompanying the advice shows. Changing the mortgage rules would encourage former students to engage in “riskier borrowing”, and house prices would rise again.

Mortgage applicants are required to disclose their student loans: concealing a debt is fraud. But in the past, politicians have done little to prevent such fraud. Student debts are not reported to the Credit Registration Office (BKR), and plans to change that were voted down. Banks have meanwhile come up with a workaround: they ask former students to provide access to their student debt.