7 December 2007

AMSTERDAM – The housing market in Amsterdam is so strained that even households with a middle income have difficulty finding a home to rent or buy. That is why the municipality wants to help this group in the coming years.

Alderman for public housing Tjeerd Herrema announced this in the plans he presented for the housing market on Friday.

The alderman has come to agreements with the housing corporations that they may sell 31,000 homes in the middle segment between now and 2016. Moreover, it is expected that 60 percent of the homes to be built in the free sector in the coming years will be intended for middle income households.

Herrema also issued the first starters loan on Friday to help this group. The municipality grants this virtually interest-free loan to homebuyers who cannot borrow enough money from the bank to buy a home.

The Association of Banks and the Homeowners Association do not think starters loans, issued by a number of municipalities at the moment, are a good idea. This measure in fact drives house prices up, they say.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news