More and more people are opting for a sustainable mortgage. This is evident from a tour of NU.nl along various lenders. The share of sustainable mortgages, where customers receive an interest discount if they have a good energy label, is increasing at all those lenders.
With sustainable mortgages, lenders try to make it more attractive to buy a sustainable home or to take energy-saving measures. With a higher energy label, customers often get a discount on their mortgage interest, which can easily save them thousands of euros.
Rabobank has had such a sustainable mortgage since March 2019. Customers with a sustainable home receive an interest discount of 0.10 percent. “At the end of October last year, 7,867 people had taken out this mortgage with us, at the end of October this year there were already 34,297”, says Rabobank spokesman Eric Lagerwey. ABN AMRO, Obvion and Nationale-Nederlanden (NN) also see an increase, but do not mention any figures.
Sustainable mortgage is becoming more famous
Lagerwey believes that the large increase is mainly due to mortgage advisers, who are increasingly including the option of a sustainable mortgage in mortgage discussions. “This increases the awareness of the product,” said the spokesman.
For the customer, the advantage of such a sustainable mortgage is clear: the monthly costs are lower. In addition, some banks offer even more extras, such as free consultations about making your home more sustainable. But in what way does a lender benefit from this type of mortgage?
Banks want to contribute
More and more lenders want to offer such a green label because they themselves want to contribute to a more sustainable world. That says Patricia Plass, director of Woonnu, the sustainable label of Nationale-Nederlanden. “Financial institutions have committed themselves to the Dutch climate agreement and have agreed that they will actually do something. By providing mortgages especially for sustainable homes, they are investing in a greener economy.”
In addition, a lot of investment money comes for mortgages from national and international pension and investment funds. They have also committed themselves to climate goals, which makes it important for them to invest their money in sustainable homes.
Plass himself thinks that the share of sustainable mortgages will increase even further in the coming years. “Interest is growing,” she says. “And that makes sense, because there is no other way to the future. We know what lies ahead and what to do about it. This development is irreversible.”
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