Households with a middle income had more money left over in 2023 than four years earlier, while prices rose sharply in the intervening years. This was mainly due to higher wages and effective government measures. However, the differences between households are large.
Expenditure on fixed costs rose from 21,000 to over 23,000 euros in four years, according to research by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). Fixed costs are expenses on, for example, rent, mortgage, subscriptions, energy, clothing, and food and drinks.
The burden on households increased mainly due to more expensive groceries and higher gas and electricity prices. Housing costs remained stable. The average disposable income increased by 10,000 euros to 55,000 euros in the same period. This was mainly due to higher wages.
Disposable income – i.e. what people earn from their job, their assets or via their own business – thus increased faster than expenditure. Middle incomes, households with a disposable income between 21,000 and 70,000 euros, therefore had more money left over.
Cabinet measures from 2022 and 2023 to compensate for the energy crisis have been effective, the CPB concludes. The cabinet gave all households 380 euros compensation and introduced extra schemes, such as the price ceiling.
The question is what the figures for 2024 will look like, because many compensation measures were dropped in that year. But the CPB has not yet investigated this.
Homeowners create space
The differences between households are large, for example between renters and homeowners. Homeowners spend an average of 42 percent of their income on expenses, while renters spend almost 57 percent. This is partly because homeowners usually earn more.
Homeowners also pay off their mortgage, a CPB spokesperson explains. “As a result, they create more financial space. Rents rise, so what tenants pay rises with it. In that sense, repayment has two effects.”
The effect of repayment also ensures that, in particular, retired homeowners, who have been repaying for longer, have relatively lower costs than retired tenants.