Some 45,000 home owners face a risky combination of having high housing costs and a mortgage which is bigger than the value of their home, according to the government’s social policy unit SCP.

Before the recession, 30,000 households were in a similar position, the SCP says in a report out on Wednesday. But unemployment and lack of savings have forced up the number of households in a potentially difficult situation.
The SCP say housing costs can be considered too high if more than 35% of income is spent on mortgage, local taxes, water and energy.
Starters on the housing ladder are most vulnerable, but immigrants and the self-employed are also increasingly effected, the SCP says.

Tax relief
If the economic crisis continues, some 65,000 home owners, or 2% of the total, will be in trouble, the organisation says.
The SCP estimates scrapping tax relief on mortgage interest payments will lead to a 10% drop in house prices, forcing more households into the danger zone.
Most parties have included a commitment to mortgage tax relief reform in their election manifestos.
Home owners
The home owners lobby group VEH said on Wednesday it did not regard reducing mortgage tax relief as a taboo subject.
‘If homes remain affordable and the value of property does not suffer, then [maintaining] mortgage tax relief is not an end in itself,’ VEH director Rob Mulder told website nu.nl.
The housing market in its entirety should be looked at instead, Mulder said. ‘We are very opposed to scrapping mortgage tax relief as a simple cost cutting exercise.’