A large majority in the Dutch Parliament has voted for more rules on the Dutch housing market. The new rules determine the rent a landlord can ask to tenants. The law still has to be approved by the Senate. The expectation is that it will be implemented on July 1, 2024 or January 1, 2025 at the latest.
Background Dutch housing market
You probably are aware of the tense situation on the Dutch housing market. Due to a shortage of supply and a high demand, rental prices have increased a lot in the past years. Especially in the larger cities properties can be priced exorbitantly.
Dutch government wants to protect the interests of the ‘normal’ working people, like teachers and nurses. Their income is above the level for social housing (houses up to 142 in the Dutch point system) yet not high enough to rent a house in the so-called free housing market.
The new legislation
The new legislation will increase the rent control limit from 142 to 186 points. Implication of this is that the monthly rent of about 300,000 homes will go down by an average of €190 when a new tenant moves in. Around 113,000 additional homes will become rent-controlled.
In the view of those who voted in favour of the new law, changes should benefit international workers, particularly in the bigger cities.
This all sounds good… BUT
Most landlords are not happy with the new regulations, that come on top of extra tax measures that have already been implemented. Owners have high mortgages in many cases so the profitability is at stake.
In the past 1,5 year many landlords have sold their property(ies) in the Netherlands. As purchase prices are high as well, this does not solve the problem of the teachers and nurses. Moreover the decrease of the number of rental properties on the Dutch housing market leads to more shortages.
I heard a Dutch politician in a talkshow justifying the new regulations and their consequences. He said that the rental market should be controlled by larger institutional investors. They should build new affordable properties in his eyes. However, building new homes is -due to various reasons- not so easy at the moment so this might take several years.
The future of the Dutch housing market
The housing market will probably stay as tense as it was, or even worse. No positive story on the short term. On the longer term I hope that more municipalities will allow more tenants in one property. Moreover, I hope that more investors will top up their properties to create extra space. I think a creative approach is required to improve the situation.
The Dutch housing market and your employees
When onboarding new talents, it’s important that you set the right expectations. Dutch houses are not cheap and it might take a while before they find one. If you want your new employees to start quicky, they will need temporary accommodation for the first period. Anywr Netherlands is daily active in the Dutch housing market, we gladly help you and your employees!
More info/contact
Do you want more info on how Anywr Netherlands can help your employees? Please contact us at info.nl@anywr-group.com.
