Only one bank still offers mortgages to buy a houseboat, as ING has stopped offering the funding, reports NOS.

Despite interventions from finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and housing minister Stef Blok, Rabobank is now the only option for wannabe water dwellers.

Max Noordhoek, chairman of the national houseboat association, told NOS: ‘It isn’t healthy to have a monopoly. It has got harder to finance buying a houseboat. Rabobank will not finance 100% of the sale, so you must put in your own money. And the bank has raised the additional costs for houseboat mortgages.’

Meanwhile, the Financiele Dagblad reports that the Dutch are spending steadily more on housing costs, at 37% of their income – 2% more than in 2013. This compares with 33% for Germans, the level that the national institute for family finance information Nibud believes is sensible.