Huge numbers of Dutch people renovated their homes during the pandemic, according to mortgage broker De Hypotheker.

The broker had 45% more requests for mortgage loans in 2020, compared with 2019, and 128% more in 2021, which it attributes partly to loans taken on for rebuilding projects.

Menno Luiten, commercial director, said that this was not just related to spiralling house prices and a shortage of supply. ‘The number of requests for home improvements has roughly doubled, compared with the period before corona,’ he said in the statement.

He told the Telegraaf that this was partly due to the fact that a lot of people worked from home during the corona crisis, pointing out that many discovered that they needed a separate space for their work.

The business also saw an explosion in people taking advantage of historic low mortgage rates by October 2021 to remortgage their house. Despite the tight house-buying market, the broker said it had received more mortgage requests for a new home, especially amongst younger home buyers who have benefitted from tax breaks.

Henk Jansen, founder of Expat Mortgages, has also noticed this trend, saying many of its clients have recently opted to build an extension or carry out major improvements, taking advantage of cheap borrowing rates. ‘However, finding a good builder or plumber to do the work may be more difficult,’ he said.

Last year, however, the police reported a two-thirds growth in domestic noise nuisance complaints year on year.