Can I get NHG with a temporary residence permit?

Not on your own. Every applicant needs EU/EEA or Swiss nationality, a permanent or long-term residence permit, or a permit for a non-temporary purpose. If you apply with a partner who meets that rule, you can still get NHG, but your income will not count towards the amount you can borrow.

Can I get NHG on a home that costs more than €470,000 if I borrow less?

Usually not. NHG adds up the costs of the purchase, starting with the lower of the price and the valuation, and counts them even if you pay part from savings. Only energy-saving measures can take the total above €470,000, to at most €498,200.

Is the NHG fee tax-deductible?

Yes. The Belastingdienst lists the costs of applying for NHG among the mortgage costs you can deduct, in one go, in your income tax return for the year you paid them. That applies to the part of the loan that counts as your owner-occupied home debt.

NHG in 2026: the mortgage guarantee explained for expats

Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG, the national mortgage guarantee) is a guarantee your lender gets on your mortgage. In 2026 you can use it for a loan of up to €470,000, or up to €498,200 if part of the loan pays for energy-saving measures. You pay a one-off fee of 0.4% of the loan. In return, if you ever have to sell at a loss for reasons outside your control, the remaining debt can be written off.

NHG is run by Stichting Waarborgfonds Eigen Woningen (WEW). It is not insurance you buy separately. It is a feature of the mortgage, arranged through the lender when you apply.

The 2026 numbers

	2026
NHG limit (NHG-grens)	€470,000
NHG limit with energy-saving measures	€498,200
One-off fee (borgtochtprovisie)	0.4% of the loan
Longest the guarantee runs	30 years from the start of the loan

Older articles call the limit the kostengrens (cost limit). NHG stopped using that term in 2024; it is now just the NHG limit, set each year by a method agreed with the government. From 2026 one limit applies to every type of home.

On a hypothetical loan of €400,000, the fee is €1,600. The Belastingdienst lists NHG costs among the mortgage costs you can deduct in your income tax return for the year you paid them.

How the limit is tested

The limit is not only about how much you borrow. For an existing home, the lender adds up the costs of the purchase, and some of them count even if you pay them from savings. The main one is the lower of the price (kosten koper, where you pay the buying costs), 97% of a vrij op naam price (where they are included), and the market value in the valuation report. Improvements, energy-saving measures and up to 6% for additional costs can be added on top.

The practical result: if both the price and the valuation are above €470,000, you cannot get NHG on that home, even with a large deposit that keeps your loan under the limit. The extra €28,200 above €470,000 is only for energy-saving measures such as insulation, HR++ glass, a heat pump or solar panels.

Conditions that matter for expats

Residence. Every applicant must show one of these, through a passport, ID card or IND residence document:

nationality of an EU country, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein
a permanent Dutch residence permit (verblijfsvergunning voor onbepaalde tijd)
an EU long-term resident permit
a document confirming permanent residence as an EU citizen
a residence permit for a purpose that is not temporary under the Aliens Decree

If you apply with a partner and one of you only has a fixed-term permit for a temporary purpose, NHG is still possible, but that person's income cannot count towards the amount you can borrow. On your own with such a permit, the conditions above are not met.

You must live in the home. Every applicant must be an owner of the home, be jointly and severally liable for the loan, and live in the home as their main residence. NHG is not available for a home you rent out.

Credit history. The lender checks every applicant with BKR, the Dutch credit register. If you have lived in, or hold the nationality of, a country whose credit bureau works with BKR, the lender checks there too. Certain negative registrations rule NHG out.

Income. The same affordability rules apply as for any mortgage, with NHG's own detail on top. With a fixed-term contract plus a letter from your employer stating the intention to make it permanent (intentieverklaring), your income can count for the whole loan once your probation period is over. Without that letter, it counts until the contract ends, unless an income assessment such as the Arbeidsmarktscan supports it. Our guide to buying a house on a temporary contract goes through this.

The loan is in euros. An NHG loan must be in euros, whatever currency you earn in.

What NHG protects

The guarantee is between NHG and your lender. If you have to sell and the sale does not cover the mortgage, NHG pays the lender part of the loss. NHG then has a claim on you for what it paid, but it is prepared to waive that claim (kwijtschelding) if all three of these are true:

you could not pay for a reason NHG accepts as being in good faith
you cooperated fully to repay as much as possible and to get the highest possible price for the home
you did not have enough income, savings or other assets to repay it yourself

NHG gives these examples of good faith: you and your partner separated; you or your partner became unable to work; your or your partner's income fell through no fault or choice of your own; your partner died. It can also consider other, very exceptional situations.

Before it gets that far, your lender can agree a pause in repayments or interest with you. NHG can then guarantee the arrears as well, up to 9% of the original loan. This is called the Woonlastenfaciliteit, and you pay no extra fee for it.

What NHG does not protect

Your monthly payments. NHG is not payment protection insurance. It deals with the loss after a sale.
Choices you make. Selling to move or to trade up does not qualify. Nor does unemployment that NHG sees as your own fault, such as dismissal on the spot without unemployment benefit, or debts you took on unnecessarily.
Cases where you can pay. If you have savings or income to cover part of the loss, you are expected to contribute.
Everything, for ever. NHG covers at most the balance of a loan repaid in full over 30 years (an annuity), so the amount guaranteed falls each year. The guarantee ends 30 years after the loan starts.
A refund of the fee. If the guarantee ends early, for example because you sell, you do not get any of the 0.4% back.

Price and trade-off

NHG says lenders reward its extra security with a lower mortgage rate, but the difference varies by lender and changes over time. Whether the saving outweighs the fee in your case depends on your loan, the home and how long you expect to stay. An adviser can compare offers with and without NHG for you.

Where to go from here

To see what you could borrow, start with the maximum mortgage calculator, then read how much an expat can borrow. If your residence permit or contract makes NHG uncertain, request mortgage advice. An English-speaking adviser can check your documents against the NHG conditions before you make an offer.

Sources

Figures checked against the sources above on 23 September 2026.

Photo: Alf van Beem, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.