Rental prices outside Randstad skyrocketing

The rapid rent increases in the free sector seems to be slowing down in most of the big cities in the Netherlands, according to figures from rental site Pararius for the second quarter. Only Utrecht is still seeing large rent increases. Outside the Randstad, however, rental prices are skyrocketing, NOS reports.

Outside the Randstad areas, rental prices increased on average by 10 percent in the second quarter. The average increase in the Randstad was 4.7 percent. Flevoland and Groningen even saw increases of 23 and 17 percent respectively.

In the second quarter tenants in the Netherlands paid an average of 14.85 euros per square meter - the highest price in a decade. The Randstad is still much more expensive than the other areas. In Amsterdam the average rent per square meter was 22.28 euros compared to 12.59 euros in Maastricht or 8.77 euros in Apeldoorn, for example. But the gap is getting smaller, according to Pararius.

According to Jasper de Groot, director of Pararius, this is because many people are looking for rentals outside the expensive cities. This trend was already visible earlier this year, when rental prices on the outskirts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam suddenly increased. De Groot thinks this will become a broader trend. "Rental rises spread like an oil spill across the Netherlands. And due to the structural housing shortage, rental prices will continue to rise for the rest of the Netherlands for a long time", he said to NOS.