Attracting first-time buyers back into the housing market is key to the recovery, according to a new report from the construction sector’s economic institute EIB.

In particular, the government must focus on expanding the options for first-time buyers. ‘Home owners are worried about the possibility of selling their current house, so they’ll only buy when they sell the first one,’ EIB researcher Taco van Hoek told the Financieele Dagblad on Thursday. ‘So you need a trigger to get things moving.’
Among the problems facing people starting on the housing ladder are tougher new mortgage rules, job insecurity and falling prices.
‘That is a help as well as a hindrance,’ Van Hoek said. ‘Potential buyers can be reluctant to commit because there might be a further drop in price.’
The EIB suggests sharply reducing the cost of buying a home for first timers. This could include scraping the property transfer tax completely or limiting it to a maximum of, say, €10,000. The tax was equivalent to 6% of the property’s value but the government cut it to 2% last summer in an effort to stimulate sales.
In addition, the government could introduce special tax free savings schemes to help people save up for a deposit, as happens in Germany. A third option would be to cut out the involvement of a notary, the EIB says.