Renting or buying: the cheaper one depends on how long you stay. Rent vs buy in the Netherlands: compare the true cost of renting and buying over the years you'd stay, with buying and selling costs, interest, upkeep and price growth. See when buying starts to win.
Costs on top of the price
€11,100
Main home ·
What do you want to work out?
Whether renting or buying works out cheaper over the years you'd stay.
Over 7 years, buying works out cheaper by about
Rent paid
€137,924True cost of buying
€75,045Home worth in 7 years
€553,443Interest paid
€83,699Buying and selling costs
€21,259Yours after selling
€254,184True cost of buying = buying costs, interest, upkeep and selling costs, plus what your €123,600 deposit and costs could have earned as savings, minus the rise in the home's value. Mortgage repayments that pay off the loan aren't a cost: they come back to you when you sell. Assumes prices rise 3.0% and rents 3.0% a year (over past 5-year periods, prices in the Netherlands typically rose 4.1% a year; we cap our starting figure at 3% to stay cautious); change these under "Rates, price growth and upkeep".
An illustration, not financial advice. Prices can fall as well as rise, and rates, rents and taxes change.
From PropValue Calculator
Advertise here
Reach people working out the cost of buying in the NetherlandsFor lawyers, brokers, surveyors and agents serving the Netherlands. Shown only on these pages, labelled as sponsored.Where are you buying?
Tap a country to load its taxes, regions and buyer types.
Next steps
Partner links: we may earn a fee if you use them, at no cost to you. They never change your result, and we don't recommend any lender or adviser.
Questions
It depends mostly on how long you stay. With our starting figures for a €450,000 home, buying works out cheaper over 7 years. Buying and selling costs are paid once, so the longer you stay, the more buying tends to win. Change the rent, years and growth above to test your own case.
Main home: transfer tax is about €9,000. All buying costs together come to about €11,100, or 2.5% of the price. Change the price or buyer type above to see your own figure.
No. Foreign buyers pay the same purchase taxes as local buyers in Netherlands. Some rules on who can buy, or which rate applies, can still depend on where you live.
No limits on foreign buyers.
A BSN (citizen service number) for a Dutch mortgage. A notary to transfer the property.
We last updated the figures on 14 Oct 2026 and checked them against official sources on 14 Oct 2026. We check every country every week, and show a warning if a check is overdue.
Guides
Looking for a bargain?
CasaAlpha Deals checks and rates thousands of repossessions, auctions and price-cut homes every night. Free to join.
We use essential cookies to make the site work. With your permission we'd also use advertising cookies so Google can show ads that keep the site free. We count visits without cookies. Cookie policy · Privacy