Over 17,000 social housing units built last year, but rising construction costs are problematic

Dutch social housing corporations built 17,168 homes last year, an increase of 13 percent compared to 2020. The organization representing the associations, Aedes, said on Thursday that rising construction costs may dampen their members’ lofty ambitions to build more new homes over the long term.

The number of units built last year includes more multi-family homes and fewer single-family homes. The number of homes created through transforming a property into residential facilities also increased. These have been realized by converting old office buildings or schools into apartments.

Most new homes are rented out at a relatively low rental price. About one in eight homes built by the corporations were mainly for households with the lowest incomes. The average monthly rent of a new construction social housing unit was 654 euros last year, Aedes reported

The organization said that housing corporations have the goal to further increase production in the coming years. For example, they aim to exceed the level of 2013, when almost 30,000 homes were built per year. This is achievable because a tax on social housing has been abolished, Aedes speculated. This would bring the corporations close to the government's goal of building an average of 33,333 homes annually between 2022 and 2030.

But that ambition is being held back partly by rising costs, especially for materials and personnel. On the other hand, the average cost of building a home, which also includes the cost of the land, fell by 4 percent. According to Aedes, this is because more smaller homes were built, which helps to spread the high construction costs.