The costs of selling a house in the Netherlands. What a seller pays in 2026

Selling a house in the Netherlands costs about 1.25% to 1.5% of the sale price for a home at The Hague's average price, by our own calculation, if your agent charges the national average commission of 1.1% reported by Trustoo.
On €481,504, the average sale price in The Hague in the second quarter of 2026 according to CBS, that is roughly €6,000 to €7,300. Most of it is the agent's fee.

The transfer tax and the notary's fee for the deed of transfer are not your costs, because in the Netherlands the buyer pays them. Below, we list the costs a seller faces in 2026, each with its source, work through an example for The Hague, and explain what it costs to sell within a few years of buying, including when the price does not cover your mortgage.

What the seller pays, and what the buyer pays

Existing homes in the Netherlands are sold kosten koper, which means the buyer pays the transfer tax and the notary's costs for the deed of transfer, and also chooses the notary. As the seller, you pay your agent, an energy label if you do not have a valid one, and, if you have a mortgage, the notary's fee for cancelling it. These are the amounts to expect in 2026:

• Agent's commission: 0.9% to 1.4% of the sale price, 1.1% on average, or a fixed fee of €3,000 to €7,500 (Trustoo)
• Agent's start-up costs: €400 to €1,000, where an agent charges them (Trustoo)
• Energy label: €250 to €480 (Trustoo), required, and no more than ten years old at the sale (ILT)
• Notary, cancelling your mortgage: €90 to €500, only if you have a mortgage (De Hypotheker)
• Early repayment fee: usually none when you sell (Homefinance, Rabobank), but check your mortgage deed
• Other possible costs: styling advice, a building inspection before you list, the move itself and, if the dates do not line up, a period of double housing costs

For a home sold at the Hague average of €481,504, our own calculation gives about €6,000 to €7,300 at the average commission: €5,297 for the agent, plus €400 to €1,000 in start-up costs, €250 to €480 for a label and €90 to €500 for the notary. Across the full range of commissions, from 0.9% to 1.4%, the total runs from about €5,100 to €8,700.

Real estate agent fees in the Netherlands

A selling agent (makelaar) charges 1.1% of the sale price on average, in a range of 0.9% to 1.4%, according to price comparison platform Trustoo. Some agents work for a fixed fee instead, between €3,000 and €7,500 in Trustoo's data, and start-up costs, where an agent charges them, run from €400 to €1,000. Trustoo bases these figures on requests made through its own platform.

A percentage rises with the price you achieve, so the agent's fee moves with your result; a fixed fee gives you certainty about the cost in advance. Whichever you choose, compare quotes on what they include, on whether the amounts include VAT, which Trustoo's figures do not state, and on what you owe if you withdraw the home from sale.

Energy label: required, and a €550 fine for a private seller without one

You must have a valid energy label when you sell, and make it available to the buyer; at the sale, it may be no more than ten years old. Without one, a private seller can be fined by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT).
The fining policy for this sets the amount for a private seller at the first category of Dutch criminal fines, which is €550 from 1 January 2026.

A new label costs €250 to €480, according to Trustoo: about €250 to €280 for an apartment and €360 to €480 for a detached house. The label also matters to your buyers, because it affects how much they can borrow. In 2026, label A or B adds €10,000 to a buyer's maximum mortgage compared with E, F or G, and C or D adds €5,000, according to De Hypotheker.

Selling a house with a mortgage: what the notary does

The buyer chooses and pays the notary, but if you have a mortgage, you pay the notary for one thing yourself: cancelling your mortgage registration at the land registry, called royement. De Hypotheker puts the notary's fee for this at €90 to €500. On the day of transfer, the notary pays off your mortgage from the purchase price, so that the registration can be cancelled, and pays the rest to you.

Do you pay a penalty for repaying your mortgage?

Usually not when you sell. Mortgage platform Homefinance says you can normally repay without a fee when you sell, and Rabobank, for example, states that no fee is due when you sell your home. Your own mortgage deed decides, so read it, or ask your lender in writing, before you agree a transfer date with the buyer.

Where a fee does apply, the law caps it. A lender may charge no more than the financial loss it suffers, usually the interest it misses, and may not include lost profit, according to the financial markets regulator AFM and the government platform Volkshuisvesting Nederland. The lender must also show you how it calculated the fee, so ask for that calculation before you sign.

Selling within a few years of buying

Selling soon after you buy is expensive mainly because the buying costs do not come back. Buyers pay about 4% to 6% of the price in buying costs, according to De Hypotheker, transfer tax included; that tax is 2%, unless the starter exemption applies. Add the costs of selling, and by our own calculation the value has to rise by about 5% to 8% before you break even, or about 3% to 6% if you bought with the exemption.

The starter exemption removes the 2% transfer tax for buyers under 35 who will live in the home, on a home worth up to €555,000 in 2026, according to the Tax and Customs Administration. You can use it only once, so if you used it for the home you are selling, your next home in the Netherlands carries 2% transfer tax. For an apartment at the Hague average, our calculation looks like this:

• Buying costs: about €16,600 to €25,000 without the starter exemption (4% to 6%), about €8,300 to €16,600 with it (2% to 4%)
• Selling costs: about €5,300 to €6,600, with the agent at 1.1%, start-up costs, an energy label and the notary
• Rise in value needed to break even: about €22,000 to €31,500 without the exemption, about €13,600 to €23,200 with it

This is our own calculation for an apartment at €416,182, the average in The Hague in the second quarter of 2026 according to De Hypotheker. With the exemption, we deducted the 2% transfer tax from De Hypotheker's range. The calculation does not weigh your monthly costs, such as interest, taxes and maintenance, against the rent you would otherwise pay. The buying costs you paid are explained item by item in our guide.

Whether prices close that gap is something nobody can promise. In The Hague, prices of existing homes rose 4.5% in the year to the second quarter of 2026, according to CBS, while national price growth slowed to 3.3% in August. Those figures describe the past year, not the next few years, so plan a short stay on the assumption that the buying costs are spent.

Renting out the home instead of selling it is restricted in The Hague. If you bought on or after 1 March 2022 and the WOZ value, the municipality's valuation, was at or below the threshold in the year of purchase, €470,000 in 2026, you need a permit to rent it out, according to the municipality. A permit is possible for renting to close family, or for at most one year after you lived there for at least a year.

Selling for less than your mortgage

If the sale price does not cover your mortgage, you pay the difference, the remaining debt, before the notary can cancel the mortgage. With a National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG), the remaining debt can be forgiven under conditions, and if you move and have to sell at a loss, you can sometimes include it in a new mortgage with NHG, according to the government.

Without NHG, the shortfall is yours to settle from savings or with a loan your lender agrees to, because the notary needs the mortgage repaid on the day of transfer. A remaining debt is most likely when you bought with a mortgage close to the full value and sell soon after, before repayments and price growth have built up equity. Talk to your lender before you accept an offer.

Tax when you sell your house in the Netherlands

You pay no tax on the gain when you sell the home you live in: the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration charges no extra tax on the money you receive. What remains after repaying the mortgage is yours, and the tax authority then counts it as part of your assets. Buying another home within three years does have consequences, as the next paragraph explains.

If you buy another Dutch home within three years, the equity follows you. It is recorded as an owner-occupied home reserve (eigenwoningreserve): the sale proceeds minus your owner-occupied home debt, usually your mortgage, and the selling costs. Put less than that into the next home and borrow the rest, and the interest on that part is not deductible. The reserve lapses after three years, according to the Consumentenbond.

Moving abroad in the same year can change your tax position in other ways, so ask a tax adviser before you fix the transfer date; this section is general information, not tax advice. If you are leaving the Netherlands, our guide covers what you must disclose and how to sign from abroad, including a power of attorney for the notary.

Selling an apartment in The Hague

Your share of the VvE's reserve fund stays in the building. By law the owners' association keeps the reserve fund (article 5:126 of the Civil Code), and the fund belongs to the association, so nothing is paid out to you when you sell. A careful buyer looks at the reserve, the annual accounts and the maintenance plan before bidding, so have the VvE documents buyers ask for ready before the home goes online.

If the apartment is on municipal ground lease and the ground rent (canon) has not been paid off in advance, the lease passes to the buyer with its conditions. For buyers under 35, the capitalised ground rent counts toward the €555,000 limit of the starter exemption, according to the Tax and Customs Administration, which matters if your asking price is close to that limit.

Before you put your home on the market

• Ask each agent for an itemised quote that states whether the amounts include VAT.
• Check that your energy label is registered and will be less than ten years old at the sale.
• Read the early repayment terms in your mortgage deed, or ask your lender in writing.
• Ask your lender for the outstanding balance, so you know what the notary will repay.
• For an apartment, collect the VvE's budget, annual accounts, maintenance plan and recent minutes.
• On ground lease, find the lease conditions and the current canon.

How we help when you sell

When you sell with us, you pay a fixed commission percentage including VAT, and only if the home is sold. We do not charge cancellation or withdrawal fees. There is a one-off start-up fee, and you receive a detailed quote including VAT. Because the commission is a percentage of the price, it moves with the result of the sale. Read more about what selling with us involves.

When we sell your home, we start with a valuation on site, have it measured according to the Dutch standard NEN 2580 before it goes online, and set up a digital sales file, in which we complete the questionnaire and the list of movables with you. You can follow your listing's statistics on the property portal Funda. A realistic asking price starts with what similar homes nearby sold for.

Buying your next home in The Hague? Then the buying costs come on top of the selling costs, and the dates of both transfers need to fit together, so that you do not carry two mortgages for longer than necessary. We can guide both sides of the move for you; see how we guide a purchase for the buying side.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to sell a house in the Netherlands?

About 1.25% to 1.5% of the sale price for a home at The Hague's average price, by our own calculation, if your agent charges the national average commission of 1.1% (Trustoo).
On €481,504, the CBS average for the second quarter of 2026, that is about €6,000 to €7,300, including start-up costs, an energy label and the notary. The buyer pays the transfer tax.

Does the seller pay transfer tax in the Netherlands?

No. Existing homes are sold kosten koper: the buyer pays the transfer tax and the notary's costs for the deed of transfer, and chooses the notary.
As the seller, you pay your agent, the energy label and, if you have a mortgage, the notary's fee for cancelling it, which De Hypotheker puts at €90 to €500.

Do I pay a penalty if I repay my mortgage when I sell?

Usually not: you can normally repay without a fee when you sell, according to Homefinance, and Rabobank, for example, charges no fee on a sale, but your own mortgage deed decides. Where a fee applies, the law caps it at the lender's loss, usually missed interest, without lost profit, and the lender must show you its calculation.

Do I pay tax when I sell my house in the Netherlands?

Not on the gain from the home you live in: the Tax and Customs Administration charges no extra tax on the money you receive, but counts it as part of your assets. If you buy another Dutch home within three years, that equity should go into it, or the interest on the part you borrow instead is not deductible, according to the Consumentenbond.

What happens if I sell my house for less than the mortgage?

You pay the difference before the notary can cancel the mortgage, from savings or with a loan your lender agrees to. With NHG, the remaining debt can be forgiven under conditions, and when you move and sell at a loss, it can sometimes be included in a new mortgage with NHG. Talk to your lender before you accept an offer.

Sources

• Trustoo, Kosten verkoopmakelaar (updated 26 July 2026): trustoo.nl
• Trustoo, Kosten energielabel (updated 30 July 2026): trustoo.nl
• Rijksoverheid, Krijg ik een boete als ik geen energielabel heb bij verkoop of verhuur van mijn woning? (updated 13 August 2026): rijksoverheid.nl
• ILT, Handhaving op energielabel bij verkoop of verhuur van gebouw (updated 19 August 2026): ilent.nl
• Beleidsregel boeteoplegging verkoop en oplevering woning zonder geldig energielabel 2024-2: wetten.overheid.nl; Staatsblad 2025, 401, verhoging geldboetecategorieën (first category €550 from 1 January 2026): officielebekendmakingen.nl
• De Hypotheker, Hoe veranderen de leennormen in 2026? (3 November 2025): hypotheker.nl
• De Hypotheker, Royeren: hypotheker.nl; Kosten koper: hypotheker.nl
• Homefinance, Boete hypotheek bij verkoop huis: homefinance.nl; Rabobank, Aflossen met eigen geld (updated 5 October 2026): rabobank.nl
• AFM, Vergoeding vervroegde aflossing hypotheek (26 June 2018): PDF; Volkshuisvesting Nederland, Berekening vergoedingsrente (27 November 2024): volkshuisvestingnederland.nl
• Belastingdienst, Startersvrijstelling (updated 6 January 2026): belastingdienst.nl; Het tarief van de overdrachtsbelasting (updated 5 January 2026): belastingdienst.nl
• CBS, Prijsstijging bestaande koopwoningen in provincie Groningen het grootst (22 July 2026): cbs.nl; Prijsstijging koopwoningen vlakt in augustus verder af (22 September 2026): cbs.nl
• CBS StatLine, Bestaande koopwoningen; verkoopprijzen, prijsindex 2020=100, regio (table 85792NED, The Hague, second quarter of 2026, updated 22 July 2026): opendata.cbs.nl
• De Hypotheker, Huizenprijzen Den Haag (second quarter of 2026): hypotheker.nl
• Gemeente Den Haag, Opkoopbescherming in Den Haag (updated 5 June 2026): denhaag.nl
• Rijksoverheid, Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG): rijksoverheid.nl
• Belastingdienst, Huis verkopen en geen nieuwe woning kopen: gevolgen overwaarde (updated 10 August 2026): belastingdienst.nl; Consumentenbond, Overwaarde, eigenwoningreserve en je hypotheek (18 February 2026): consumentenbond.nl
• Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 5, article 5:126: wetten.overheid.nl