House sustainability and your mortgage:

Now the energy prices are rising, it's becoming more attractive to make your current or new home more sustainable. However, the costs for energy saving measures can add up considerably. Fortunately, in the Netherlands it's possible to finance these costs with your mortgage. How much can you borrow to increase the sustainability of your house and how does it work?

Making an old house more sustainable ensures a lower energy bill and it's good for the environment. Energy saving measures include insulating your home (cavity walls, floor, facade and roof), installing HR glass (or higher), a heat pump and solar panels. 

Unfortunately, increasing the sustainability of your house comes with a price tag. People who have sufficient savings usually use it to pay for energy saving facilities for their home. This way they don't have to pay mortgage interest rate. However, if you don't have enough savings or prefer to keep some funds in reserve, it's possible to pay for energy saving measures by increasing your mortgage. 

You can borrow up to 106% of the value of your house to pay for energy saving measures to increase the sustainability of your house. How much additional mortgage you can get depends on the energy label. For most energy labels you can get 9,000 euros extra to make your home more sustainable. If you have an energy efficient home with an EPC (Energy Performance Contracts) of zero or lower (a climate neutral home) and zero-energy you can even borrow more, respectively 15,000 and 25,000 euros.

Making your house more sustainable is possible if you're buying a house, but also if you already own your home. In the latter case you can increase your mortgage or apply for an additional mortgage to pay for energy saving measures. 

Just like other renovation measures that you finance with your mortgage, your mortgage lender will deposit the money for making your home more sustainable in a building fund. It's necessary that you get an indication in advance of the costs of the energy saving facilities that you want to implement. The actual costs to improve the sustainability of your house will be paid out of the construction depot. The many that remains after the sustainability measures have been completed will be used as a mandatory repayment on your mortgage in the Netherlands.

Instead of increasing your mortgage for specific energy savings measures, if you get a mortgage with NHG you can choose to add an energy saving budget ("Energiebespaarbudget"). This budget allows you to decide later on which measures you want to spend the money to increase the sustainability of your house. Some mortgage lenders also allow you to get an Energiebespaarbudget without NHG. Our mortgage advisors can tell you which lenders are open to this way of financing the energy saving measure for your home.

If you finance the costs of making your home more sustainable with your mortgage (via a building fund or as an energy saving budget) you increase your mortgage amount. But increasing the sustainability of your house can also have a beneficial effect on your monthly mortgage costs. If your house gets a better energy label due to the sustainable renovations, some mortgage lenders give you an interest discount or sustainability discount on your total mortgage amount. This way you have to pay less mortgage interest. A mortgage advisor can calculate how much the measures to increase your house sustainability will cost below the line. 

Another way to finance the measures to make your home more sustainable is with a sustainability loan, which are offered by some mortgage lenders. For the part of the mortgage that is used to increase your home's sustainability you get a lower interest rate. When you're applying for your mortgage, your advisor will investigate which option is the most economical option in your situation.

Next to the interest rate discount, energy saving measures decrease your monthly energy costs. How much money you save depends on the measure you take to make your home more sustainable, the price you pay and the amount of your energy bill. Companies that are specialised in energy saving facilities can give you more information about this topic.

Besides the money you save on mortgage interest and your energy bill, you can also apply for the government's energy saving subsidy for your property (SEEH). This subsidy covers insulation measures, a (hybrid) heat pump, solar boiler and a connection of your house to a heat network. The amount of subsidy differs per energy saving facility. 

Making your home more sustainable creates a win-win situation, but the costs to increase your house's sustainability quickly add up. Luckily you can finance energy saving measures with your mortgage via various ways: a construction depot as part of a normal mortgage, an energy saving budget or a sustainability loan. Get in touch with our mortgage advisors and find out what your possibilities are to increase the sustainability of your house.