2 months Ago
Party leader Dilan Yeşilgöz stated her party will not agree to a decrease or abolishment of the benefit, and it will not agree to a coalition with any party that indicates a change to the deduction of mortgage interest.
With an election looming on October 29, ask for an increase in the ministry; this position makes cooperation with a number of other major parties much more complex.
Deductions Become Election Topic
Yeşilgöz asserted that many households rely on the mortgage interest deduction. "If you have worked very hard to buy a house, we cannot take that away from you," said Yeşilgöz. Both the CDA and the GroenLinks-PvdA have committed to abolishing the benefit over a gradual period of time — the CDA wants it gone in 30 years and the GroenLinks-PvdA over the course of eight years.
The aim is to have households depend less on cheap money to purchase a home. The departments of Economics and Housing.
In stating that mortgage interest was distorting the housing market by providing buyers access to larger amounts of money and therefore increasing the price of a house, while also privileging homeowners over renters.
Although it could mean an increase of hundreds of euros per month for homeowners, mortgage experts claim that if the mortgage deduction benefit were to be phased out gradually, it would lessen the blow on future buyers.
Certainly, CDA leader Henri Bontenbal would agree that reducing or scrapping the mortgage deduction benefit is a hard measure, but something that needs to be done to inform the shaping of the housing market.
Interestingly enough, the VVD also supported an accelerated decrease of the deduction benefit when the Rutte III Cabinet was in office. Yeşilgöz explained that now that the housing market has 'peace and stability', it does not make sense to undo our prior position.
Tensions Inside and Outside of the VVD
Not all members within the VVD agree. The party's youth wing, the JOVD, criticized the focus on homeowners by calling it 'own-driveway first nonsense', while indicating that first-time buyers unfairly miss out on the opportunity to purchase a home.
The newly millennial populated subgroup, earning modest incomes with few savings, is clearly facing insurmountable barriers to accessing this market.
Further confusion arose on Sunday, following the statement made by caretaker Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans that the VVD party would likely cooperate with GroenLinks-PvdA, which he quickly had to walk back by stating that to invite them to form a Cabinet with them was "completely inconceivable."
Declining Poll Numbers Complicate Their Future Role
The VVD's position is declining steadily in the polls and is currently sitting at 14 to 18 seats in the Peilingwijzer. Currently, they are trailing the PVV (29 to 35), the GroenLinks-PvdA (23 to 27), and the CDA (22 to 26).
Since the VVD has ruled out coalitions with either the PVV, GroenLinks-PvdA, or the CDA, on mortgage policy, things are not looking promising for them to be part of the next Cabinet role.
