Apartment rental prices to continue to rise; Advocates want Cabinet to intervene

The average square meter price for a rental home in the private sector rose slightly in the past quarter compared to a year earlier. On average, new tenants paid 16.90 euros per square meter in the third quarter, housing platform Pararius reported based on the rental housing supply. That is an increase of 0.6 percent year-on-year. Prices fell compared to the previous quarter. Tenants’ association Woonbond noted that prices increased significantly in the large cities.

Of the fifteen large cities looked at, private sector rents rose most in Enschede and Amsterdam compared to the third quarter of 2021. In Nijmegen, rents actually fell. The square meter prices also vary widely by region. In the third quarter, tenants in Drenthe paid around 11 euros per square meter. In Noord-Holland, where Amsterdam mainly drives prices, this was double at 22 euros.

The square meter price is still rising, but a lot less rapidly than in the years before 2019, said Jasper de Groot, director of Pararius. “In the third quarter of 2018, new tenants in the free sector paid an average of 16.04 euros per square meter. That is almost 3.5 euros more than four years earlier. In the third quarter of 2022, the square meter price was only 0.86 euros higher than four years earlier.”

According to the Woonbond, Minister Hugo de Jonge’s plans to regulate “mid-market rents” do not go far enough. De Jonge wants, among other things, the quality of the home to determine the rent for homes with a monthly rent of up to 1,000 euros. The Woonbond finds that limit too low. Also because the value given to property value and energy labels is increasing, so more homes will exceed that limit.

“The commercial rental sector has grown rapidly in recent years. About a million rental homes, about a third of the rental sector, are now in the hands of commercial landlords. Often these are smaller private investors who have bought existing homes to rent out at a high price, resulting in first-time buyers often missing out,” the Woondbond said. “De Jonge must take action to at least tackle the extortionate prices in this segment.”