Since the Spring of 2009, mortgage rates in the Netherlands are consistently amongst the highest in Europe. In Zembla, Maarten Pieter Schinkel sets out how this can be explained by reduced competition in the Dutch mortgage market, greatly facilitated by the State aid conditions that the European Commission imposed on the Dutch banks. He concludes that Dutch homeowners may have overpaid in total between euro 3.5 and 6 billion in raised interest, or roughly 1000 euro per year after taxes for an average household. Other commentators in the Zembla documentary include Neelie Kroes, Henk Don and Sweder van Wijnbergen.