Fewer and fewer people are in arrears on their mortgage, reports the Bureau Krediet Registratie (BKR) foundation. It sees that people are more often able to pay their mortgage without problems.
According to the foundation, more than 30,000 people had a mortgage arrears in June. That was less than in the same period last year. At that time, almost 35,000 people were (temporarily) unable to pay their mortgage.
Since 2017, more mortgage arrears have been resolved each year than new ones arise. In 2025, the number of people who get out of arrears is even twice as large as the number of new cases. There is a decrease in all age groups. According to BKR, this is mainly due to “a structural improvement in payment behavior”.
Yet there are still people with increasing payment problems with their mortgage, BKR sees. These arrears are often caused by the loss of a job, by illness or by divorce.
A quarter of the arrears are resolved within two years. At the same time, more than a third are more than ten years behind with payments. According to the foundation, this indicates “persistent problems and long-term financial stress”.
Arrears in mortgage payments occur most often in people between the ages of 41 and 60 and in the provinces of Flevoland, Groningen and Limburg, as you can see on the map below.
Fewer people with residual debts
The number of new people with a residual debt is “particularly small,” says BKR. A residual debt is the amount that remains if you have sold your house and the sale price is lower than your outstanding mortgage.
For example, there were almost twenty thousand residual debts in 2021, while there were more than eleven thousand in 2025. No new people are being added with a residual debt, BKR sees. According to the foundation, this is partly due to the housing shortage. There is a lot of overbidding on many houses, so the chance of loss is very small.
The people who do have a mortgage debt after the sale of their house mainly live in Flevoland, Groningen and Limburg. According to BKR, this is mainly because house prices there are relatively low.