Utrecht, 18 May 2020 – The number of mortgages during the first quarter of 2020 grows by 22.8% compared to the first quarter of 2019. Also, the average mortgage value has increased, which has led to an increase in mortgage revenue by 28.4%. This shows that the COVID-19 crisis has not negatively influenced the mortgage industry during the first quarter of 2020.
‘The strong growth is mainly driven by customers that are willing to refinance and take out additional loans. Additionally, we see that the average mortgage value continues to grow. Those two factors accelerate the total mortgage revenue growth.’ according to Joppe Smit of management consulting firm IG&H. The average mortgage value currently amounts to 337.000 euros, which means that it has increased by 2.8% compared to the 4th quarter of 2019. The average mortgage value continues to increase for all groups, but the strongest growth (+5.4% compared to Q4 2019) can be found among existing homeowners who transfer to a new home. This indicates that the Dutch mortgage market has not yet faced the inevitable downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The amount of people that refinance and take out additional loans continues to grow The major share of mortgages is still taken out by existing homeowners transferring to new homes, but the people that refinance their mortgage or take out additional loans have almost caught up with the transferors. The group of transferors expands increasingly (+45.9% compared to Q4 2019), while the first group displays a lower level of growth (+10.0% compared to Q1 2019). This results in a growth rate of 22.8% compared to Q1 2019 for the entire market. “The accelerated growth in transfers could be a response to an increasing interest caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This group wants to utilize this window of opportunity while it lasts.” according to Joppe Smit.
Downward momentum continues for banks Banks, and specifically the top-3 banks, have not yet been able to reverse the existing downward momentum in Q1 2020. Their market share has decreased for a second quarter in a row. This means that the top-3 banks have a cumulative market share of 47.9%, which is the lowest point since 2016. Investment funds that enable non-bank lending take advantage of the downward momentum of banks by accumulating a market share of 19.9%. Munt continues to have the highest growth and secures the 4th spot. ING and Florius experience the strongest decrease this quarter. The downward spiral that Florius is currently facing, has made them fall outside the top 10.
Industry collective Duurzaam Wonen IG&H is one of the supporting organisations that have recently launched the industry collective Duurzaam Wonen. More than 80 organisations have joined forces to foster awareness for sustainable housing among customers. To increase awareness, mortgage advisors will receive formal education on sustainability. The collective aims to educate at least 80% of the mortgage advisors in sustainability by the end of 2020. For the first time, IG&H reports about the activities and progress of this collective and will continue doing so every quarter. To date, 4,900 advisors have applied and, of which, 3,100 have successfully completed this programme. This implies that an additional 3,000 advisors must complete this programme to meet the industry collective’s goal for 2020 (10,000 advisors in total).
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Joppe Smit Director at IG&H E: joppe.smit@igh.com T: 06 2035 2438
Authors & data-analysis IG&H mortgage update: Annelies Stemfoort (annelies.stemfoort@igh.com);
Brenno Baas (brenno.baas@igh.com)