Surplus Value in the Netherlands: Your Options in 2026

What is surplus value on your home?

Surplus value (overwaarde) is what your home's sale leaves after you repay your mortgage. In English it is usually called home equity. The sum is simple: sale price minus your remaining home-acquisition debt minus the selling costs.¹ Selling costs include the estate agent, the valuation, the energy label and the advertising.¹

The Belastingdienst does not tax that gain as income.¹ The Netherlands has no capital-gains tax on the home you live in. Your surplus value still touches your tax return in two places: the interest deduction on your next mortgage and, once the money sits in your bank account, Box 3. We walk through both, option by option.

This page covers the home you live in. If you renovate without moving, the renovation-loan rules below still apply. Renting out the home you leave behind follows different rules. We explain those on our page about renting out your own house.

Meet Elena and Chris. They sell their apartment for €600,000. Their remaining home-acquisition debt is €150,000 and the selling costs are €5,000. Their surplus value is €445,000. We follow them through every option below.

Which tax rules apply to your surplus value?

Four rules do the work, and all four turn on one figure. After the sale the Belastingdienst records your surplus value as a home-equity reserve. In Dutch: the eigenwoningreserve.¹

Buy a next home and the Belastingdienst caps your deduction. Interest counts only on the purchase price plus buying costs, minus that reserve.² This calculation rule is the so-called bijleenregeling. Our bijleenregeling guide walks through the calculation step by step.

Three more rules complete the picture. The reserve is not forever: it lapses three years after the sale.³ Money you spend on a renovation of your own home lowers the reserve by that amount.⁴ And one cap remains: in 2026 you deduct the costs for your own home at no more than 37.56%.⁵ That lower rate applies once your Box 1 income passes €78,426.⁵

The table below lines up the 2026 figures you will meet on this page. The deemed returns are 1.28% on savings and 6.00% on other assets.⁷

How does your surplus value affect your next mortgage?

Your interest deduction stops at your next home's price plus costs minus your reserve. Borrow more and you deduct no interest on the extra part. That part counts as a Box 3 debt.⁷

Back to Elena and Chris. They buy their next home for €750,000 including costs, while their reserve stands at €445,000. They can therefore deduct interest on at most €305,000 of mortgage. Suppose they borrow €500,000 because they want to keep savings on hand. Then €195,000 of that loan falls outside the deduction. The Belastingdienst has its own calculator for this, the Rekenhulp Bijleenregeling (bijleenregeling calculator).²

The table below sets out their case step by step.

Can you use your surplus value for a renovation?

Yes, and every euro you spend lowers your home-equity reserve.⁴ That works for a renovation and for maintenance of your own home.⁴ A smaller reserve means a larger part of your next mortgage keeps its interest deduction.

Do you finance the renovation with a loan instead? Then the interest is deductible on two conditions.⁶ You spend the money on improving or maintaining the home you live in. And you repay on at least an annuity schedule, within 30 years.⁶ The work has to become a permanent part of your home: a new kitchen or bathroom, window frames, insulation, solar panels or a heat pump.⁶

In the first six months you deduct the interest on the whole loan. After that you deduct only on the part you actually spent.⁶ Keep every invoice, because the Belastingdienst can ask what the loan paid for.⁶ Does the money sit in a separate account that pays out as the work progresses? Then you have a bouwdepot (a construction escrow account), and our bouwdepot page explains how it pays out.

Elena and Chris weigh this option too. Suppose they spend €50,000 of their surplus value on the renovation. Their reserve of €445,000 then drops to €395,000.⁴ Their deduction cap of €305,000 rises to €355,000. The part without deduction shrinks to €145,000.

What if you don't put your surplus value into a home?

You do not have to reinvest your surplus value. Parking it in savings or investments is allowed. Two consequences follow. Your next mortgage misses part of its interest deduction for up to three years.³ And the money itself becomes Box 3 wealth.⁷

The Belastingdienst looks at your wealth on 1 January.⁷ Above €59,357 per person you pay Box 3 tax.⁸ The rate is 36% on a deemed return.⁷ With a fiscal partner the combined allowance is €118,714.⁸

Suppose Elena and Chris pick a smaller apartment of €350,000 instead. Their reserve of €445,000 exceeds that price by €95,000. The €95,000 stays on the books as reserve for three years.³ Whatever they keep in the bank on 1 January counts toward Box 3. This is their only Box 3 asset here. Together they have a €118,714 allowance, so they owe nothing on this €95,000.

One change was planned. The move to taxing your actual return was set for 1 January 2028. On Budget Day 2026 the cabinet postponed it. It asked the Eerste Kamer to hold the bill. That date is now open. The next word is expected in spring 2027. Our page on the actual-return report tracks what comes next. Gifting the money away follows its own rule.

What does this mean for you?

Your best option depends on your plans for the next three years. Buying again soon? You deduct interest on the purchase price plus costs, minus your reserve.² Renovating? Your spending lowers the reserve, and the loan interest is often deductible.⁶ Waiting or renting for a while? Note the date your reserve lapses and your Box 3 position on 1 January.⁷

Elena and Chris choose the €750,000 house. Their return for the year of the move covers the sale, the purchase and €305,000 of deductible mortgage. How you finance that purchase or renovation is a separate decision. Our refinance mortgage page shows what we weigh up.

Selling, buying and renovating usually land in the same tax year. Your reserve, your deduction cap and your Box 3 position then all move together. Check your sale date and your 1 January bank balance this month.