The cost to the treasury of tax relief on privately owned houses has nearly doubled since 2000, rising from €16.9bn to €33bn in 2011, the central statistics office CBS said on Tuesday.

The tax advantage for home owners was €14bn, or around €290 a month for each household. However, the sums varied from €130 a month for the lowest incomes to €520 for the highest incomes, says the CBS.
Just under 17% of low earners were eligible for this home owners tax relief, while 92% of high earners qualified.
By far the largest part of the cost was made up of mortgage tax relief, which reached €32.3bn in 2011.
Mortgage tax relief is currently the subject of fierce debate among political parties with most agreed it should be reduced to some extent.
At the moment home owners in the Netherlands can deduct all interest paid on their mortgages for 30 years.