18/05/2022 - ABN Amro Bank NV: Nearly half of all Dutch homeowners want to green their homes, but don't see how

Although 44 percent of Dutch homeowners intend to make their homes more sustainable in the next two years, almost half of them don't believe they have the means to do so. Many of those polled (47 percent) stated prohibitively high costs as the main reason for not going through with their plans, with nearly three in ten homeowners holding off in the hope that new subsidies will bring their sustainability goals within reach. By and large, the Dutch are acutely aware of the urgency of improving sustainability, partly due to surging energy costs. These are the conclusions of a survey among more than 1,800 people, conducted by PanelWizard on behalf of ABN AMRO.

The vast majority of homeowners understand the importance of sustainability and intend to make their homes more environmentally friendly. Specifically, 42 percent of homeowners say they would like to make their homes completely gas-free, and 35 percent want to install solar panels. For almost half of those polled, the soaring energy costs have contributed to their desire to boost sustainability. No fewer than 54 percent of homeowners also say they will pay more attention to the energy label when buying a new home. And seven out of ten homeowners consider it important that their current home has a good energy label with low energy consumption. Notably, almost half of all first-time buyers and those moving up the housing ladder have a clear preference for newly constructed houses. For 40 percent of homeowners, a decisive reason for buying a newly built home would be the lower energy consumption compared with existing homes.

Too little awareness of financial options for sustainable home improvement

As a result of surging energy costs, almost three in four homeowners in the Netherlands have started paying much more attention to their energy consumption. For instance, 62 percent have been regularly turning the heating down a few degrees in recent months, and 53 percent have started taking shorter showers. Although many homeowners feel that making their homes more sustainable is currently unfeasible, the survey shows that only a small number of people are actually aware of the financial options that they do have. As many as 57 percent didn't know, for example, that borrowing extra for the purchase of a sustainable home is an option. In addition, almost half were unaware of the possibilities to increase the amount of their current mortgage for spending on energy saving measures. And six out of ten homeowners were surprised to learn that mortgage interest rates can also be discounted for newly constructed sustainable houses. "Our research shows that although improving their home's sustainability is important to many Dutch people, most are insufficiently aware of how to finance it," says Kitty de Heiden, Mortgage Lead at ABN AMRO. "We're also seeing that 61 percent of people are not deterred from making big financial decisions, despite the uncertain circumstances. So the willingness to spend is there. The same applies to improving the sustainability of homes. What many Dutch people don't know is that with the right financial support, their goals may in fact be closer than they think."

Hans Sjouke Koopal