When Laura van Erp and her husband Wies visited their financial advisor, they heard about the sustainability mortgage for the first time. They had an appointment to talk about renovating their house in Roosendaal, in the province of North Brabant. It is a 1970s house with an impractically arranged ground floor. ‘We decided to transfer our mortgage to finance the renovation. During this conversation, the advisor told us about a.s.r.’s sustainability mortgage. If you are renovating anyway then that’s a good moment to consider sustainability measures too, he said.’

‘a.s.r. has offered this sustainability mortgage since 2019,’ explains Neriman Polat, Manager Mortgages Business Development. ‘a.s.r.’s mission is to accelerate the energy transition and reduce CO₂ emissions. Our Mortgages division contributes to this by financing energy-saving solutions such as solar panels, cavity wall and floor insulation, a heat pump and HR++ glass. There are 4.6 million owner-occupied houses in the Netherlands so there is still huge potential for sustainability.’

Customers who take out a sustainability mortgage can borrow up to € 25,000 on top of their mortgage amount to retrofit their home. They pay a lower interest for that amount. Neriman: 'Customers who opt for this do not yet know what energy-saving measures they want to carry out and exactly what it will cost them. They just need to know how much they want to borrow. They then have two years to submit bills for the energy-saving measures they have implemented in their homes.'

'As part of the 25,000, 9,000 will not be taken into account by determining the maximal mortgage amount. Therefore customers are always able to borrow 9,000 for sustainability measures even if they don't know exactly what they want. This amount will cover the costs of a number of smaller adjustments, but they hardly see this reflected in their monthly mortgage payments. When you borrow this amount, you will have two years to think about what you want to take on.’

Monthly mortgage payments

Laura and Wies took out the sustainability mortgage in May 2022. ‘The sustainability part of € 9,000 won us over. No other mortgage lender made us such an offer.’

In March last year, Laura and Wies had the walls in the utility room insulated, installed underfloor heating and purchased a hybrid heat pump. ‘Our monthly mortgage expenses went up a bit because of this loan, but that is negligible when you see what we save on gas, water and electricity costs.’ The couple also want to have their roof insulated in the future.

87% of customers with sustainability mortgages, like Laura and Wies, go about retrofitting their homes after a year. Neriman: ‘The average amount spent in that period is € 8,700. The houses then go up one and a half energy labels.’ Over 14% of all homeowners currently apply for any kind of sustainability loan. At a.s.r., we pro actively offer a sustainability loan if this is not in the initial application. By doing such, we have been able to increase the number of mortgage customers that take out a sustainability loan. The reason why this number is higher, according to Neriman, is because of the ease of borrowing € 9,000. ‘We have made sure that after customers take out a mortgage, they can tick the confirmation box to show whether they want to borrow extra. If an advisor has not raised this, it can still be offered very easily in this way.’

Impact

Neriman hopes that owners of older homes with a low energy label, in particular, will want to think about making their homes more sustainable. ‘We want to help everyone make an impact so all labels are welcome, but in older houses we see a lot of draughts and cracks. So you can make significant gains in terms of energy consumption and improved living comfort.’ Laura also advises others to consider making their homes more sustainable. ‘We owe it to the earth to give something back. If you have to pay for this yourself, it hurts your savings account, so this is a very good alternative.’

For customers who already have a mortgage with a.s.r. and want to make their home more sustainable, a.s.r. has been offering the option directly to customers to take out a sustainability loan since July 2022. Neriman: ‘You can borrow up to € 9,000. You can simply tick this in your My Mortgage environment.’ Mortgages tries to win over customers who still have doubts by hosting webinars and recording podcasts on the importance of sustainability. ‘We explain all the things you can do, where to start and the costs. More information can also be found on our Sustainable Living platform. And we cooperate with De Energiebespaarders. Their energy consultants come to your home, provide advice and quote energy-saving measures. They will even carry it out for you if you want.’

Green Lotus Award

a.s.r. won the 2023 Green Lotus Award for the second year in a row. This award is given to the mortgage lender that the judges consider to be the most progressive in terms of home sustainability. The jury report states that after winning in 2022, a.s.r. has continued with unabated fervour to fulfil its sustainability ambitions and clearly knows how to motivate advisors and customers to become more sustainable.