From 2025, the National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) limit is going up. How does an NHG mortgage work again? With house prices rising fast, we've almost forgotten that prices can fall too. In times of falling prices, you might have to sell your home due to circumstances and be left with residual debt. Residual debt is a situation where the mortgage is higher than the home's sale price. Perhaps unthinkable in today's market — but that's what we thought at the end of 2007 too, after a similarly long stretch of ever-rising house prices.
What protection does NHG offer?
The NHG covers the situation where you have to sell your home due to difficult circumstances — think divorce, incapacity for work (loss of income), or death. Under certain conditions you can call on the NHG so that you're not left with residual debt. You can also apply to temporarily lower your housing costs, in consultation with the lender. That way you can stay in your home without worrying about having to sell immediately. So NHG helps you keep living in your home.
Good news: the NHG limit is going up and the fee is going down
As of 1 January 2025, the NHG limit is € 450,000. If you invest in energy-saving measures, the limit is even € 477,000. The NHG limit tracks the rise in market prices of homes.
Note: for the NHG limit, the lower of the appraised market value and the agreed purchase price is used. Say the purchase price is € 460,000 and the appraised market value € 450,000 — you can still take out the mortgage with NHG (up to € 450,000).
The fee for taking out NHG drops from 0.6% to 0.4% of the loan.
An NHG mortgage with an interest discount
The advantage of NHG is that you're protected if circumstances mean you can't pay your housing costs, and that the lender charges a lower mortgage rate for an NHG mortgage. After all, the lender's risk is considerably lower. The discount on the mortgage rate can add up to more than 0.5%.
Do the simple math and you'll probably want an NHG mortgage. The fee is tax-deductible, and the protection — and especially the interest discount — quickly outweighs that cost.
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