Amsterdam student room rents top €950 per month; Expert argues for price cap
Students who are looking to rent a room during their studies have seen prices shoot up even higher, with rental rates in Amsterdam nearing 1,000 euros per month. While Amsterdam monthly rental rates are now at a pricey 48 euros per square meter, Haarlem was even more expensive at 51 euros per month at the start of the year, according to first quarter figures from rental platform Kamernet. It might be necessary to put a maximum price on room rental rates targeting students, said housing professor Peter Boelhouwer on Thursday.
Amsterdam is still the most expensive for a student room, regardless of size. The average there is now 951 euros per month. Utrecht was in second place at 800 euros per month, and The Hague followed at 745 euros monthly.
The prices of a room in the Dutch university cities were on average 5.1 percent higher in the first quarter compared to a year earlier. Demand is far outpacing supply, a situation which has only worsened. Landlords have been able to push up rental rates with 20 people knocking on their door per listing. A year ago, 18 people showed up to view a student room, on average.
“The gap between supply and demand in the Netherlands is increasing, leading to rising rents,” says Kamernet CEO Djordy Seelmann. “You can see that affordability is coming under pressure, causing price increases to become more in line with inflation. When we speak to landlords, we often hear that rooms have become unaffordable for many people.”
Potential renters are better off looking for student rooms in Wageningen, Enschede and Leeuwarden. There you can get a room for 25 euros or less per square meter, according to Kamernet, which analyzed the prices of almost 44,000 rooms and other rental properties.
Apartments is also most expensive for an apartment overall, with an average rental price of 2,056 euros per month. Again, Haarlem rates were high, taking second place at 1,740 euros monthly, according to Kamernet. Apartment rents rose by an average of 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023, Kamernet said based on data across the entire country.
According to Kamernet CEO Djordy Seelmann, to do something about the rising prices, many rooms and apartments must be added. The government’s current housing policy is not sufficiently focused on this, he believes. Landlords are facing policies that are leading them to divest, which means rental supply is shrinking.
“[Student] rooms in particular are like a neglected child in politics,” he said. “Repurposing existing spaces such as office buildings or vacant buildings into residential spaces is a sensible strategy that increases supply and can improve affordability in the long term.”
“The shortage is increasing, but there is a plan to take action,” Boelhouwer said of the new coalition’s plans to add more student rental property to the market. The situation “remains difficult, but if it is successful, it will lead to an increase in supply, the housing professor told radio program Spraakmakers.
“The plans are there, but the implementation is complicated,” said Boelhouwer. “I’m not very hopeful when I see how production is developing.”
Further he noted that there is a projected housing shortage increase of 40 to 60 thousand units. Until the shortage is addressed, he pointed out that students can still file objections to high rental prices by evaluating their home gains the point system to try and legally force the landlord to reduce the rent.
The municipalities also need to step up their enforcement efforts, Mathijs ten Broeke from Woonbond told the radio show. But the concern is that will lead even more landlords to sell off the homes they put on the rental market, which will lead to fewer student homes in the end.
“But if that is the case, we think that means that that type of landlord is not suitable for public housing. Let’s leave student housing to housing associations that are not looking for profit,” Ten Broeke said
