Europe News

Mortgage Burden Looms Over Dutch

December 5, 2011

ALMERE, The Netherlands—The most debt-burdened households in the euro zone aren't in Portugal, Ireland or Greece, the currency bloc's trio of bailed-out countries. Spanish households—which borrowed heavily in the boom years to build and buy houses—aren't even close to the top.

The title of most indebted goes to households in the Netherlands, and the main reason is the enormous mortgages that the Dutch—though frugal by...

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