Home owners paid a record €4bn extra off their mortgages last year, Rabobank said on Wednesday. This is 25% up on the extra payments made in 2013.

The increase is due to the temporary tax break on family gifts of up to €100,000 last year, the bank said. Extra payoffs in December reached €1bn or a quarter of the total, as home owners raced to meet the December 31 deadline.

The tax break on gifts to close family members has now been cut to €52,752.

‘This would appear to have encouraged many clients to pay off more of their mortgages,’ spokesman Theo Harms told website nu.nl.