How Brexit impacts life in Amsterdam

How Brexit impacts life in Amsterdam

A recurrent question in social as well as professional conversations lately is ‘is Brexit good news for Anywr Netherlands’? ‘Yes and no’ is my answer then. I will explain why in this article.

Yes (short term)

UK based companies or companies with their European headquarters in the UK tend to relocate their residency to mainland Europe. The Netherlands and foremost Amsterdam is a popular destination; it is safe, education and health care are good, connections to other countries are good.

At Anywr Netherlands we also see an increased interest from UK based companies. Many of the proposals that we have drafted lately are for UK based companies who are considering to move to Amsterdam (in most cases) and a number of them are already relocating.

So yes, on the short term this is good for our business in most respects.

No (short and long term)

One of the side effects of the increased interest is that the availability on the international schools as well as on the housing market has come under pressure. Despite the opening of new international schools in/around Amsterdam there are still waiting lists for many groups, making the step to move to the Netherlands less easy. There are alternatives for people who move to the Netherlands on a permanent basis but we see that people still prefer ‘their own’ baccalaureate for their children instead of the local Dutch curriculum.

For the housing market the increased interest means that the rental prices in the Randstad area (more or less the western part of the Netherlands) have gone up, with Amsterdam as ‘leader’. Simple apartments in Amsterdam start at € 1.500,00 these days, which is rather much especially if you see what you get for this amount. For starters on the labour market (both Dutch and from abroad) it has become common practice to share a house. However, with a partner and/or kids most people want their own dwelling. This can be an obstacle in the consideration to live in Amsterdam or its wider environment.

Many new houses will be built in the Randstad area in the medium term. This will give space to the housing market. However, the Dutch infrastructure (both public transport and road traffic) is overloaded already so this may mean more travel time for all people living in this area.

On the long term negative consequences have been predicted due to Brexit; Brexit could have a negative impact of 2 to 3% of GDP. If you’re interested you should read this article:

http://ase.uva.nl/content/news/2017/06/teulings-britain%E2%80%99s-exit-europe-effect-on-netherlands.html

Conclusion

Brexit has both a positive and a negative impact on Anywr Netherlands’s business. The increased volumes of people moving to the Netherlands have a positive effect as long as we can still find schools and houses. Brexit’s impact on the Dutch economy may have negative consequence on Anywr Netherlands in the long run. When people ask me if Brexit is good for Anywr Netherlands, I wil stick to my answer ‘yes and no’

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