Housing minister should focus on housing construction as much as possible, says NVM

Real estate agents association NVM wants Mona Keijzer, as the new minister of housing, to focus on building as many houses as possible as quickly as possible to counter shortages and price increases. "It is positive that tackling the housing crisis is a priority," says Lana Gerssen, chair of the NVM Housing department. Gerssen is pleased that Keijzer is taking over many of the ambitions of former minister Hugo de Jonge.

Gerssen thinks it is "very good" that two A4 pages in the outline agreement are devoted to tackling the housing crisis. She does emphasize that she thinks it is important that the market is also involved. In this way, the NVM hopes to absorb the increasing demand for housing as quickly as possible. "Now we just need to move from talking to building ."

The chairman also praises Keijzer's no-nonsense mentality. "It is positive that Mona Keijzer says: 'If I see things that don't work, I don't hesitate to take measures.' She is taking over ambitions from Hugo de Jonge, such as building 100,000 new homes per year." She also knows that the number of new homes is lagging behind. "I can only praise her for continuing to name that ambition."

However, Gerssen argues that constructing new homes is not the only solution but also where new homes are being built in the Netherlands. "It is a positive sign that new construction is growing. However, with this, we cannot adequately meet the increasing demand for housing. We need more homes and the right homes. In the right location and with local demand as a starting point without focusing completely on the starter segment."

Hugo de Jonge has already taken measures to stimulate new construction, such as speeding up procedures. Gerssen also calls on politicians to match new construction to demand. Currently, they are sticking to two-thirds affordable rental and housing units and one-third more expensive housing, she explains. "If that means that construction is not feasible, you should be able to see what is possible. That is more useful than doing nothing at all."

On Thursday, NVM announced that the new construction market is picking up. The increased demand for new construction homes is a result of the scarcity and sharply rising prices in the existing housing market. According to Gerssen, the prices of new construction homes have remained stable for a long time, a big difference from the rapidly rising prices of existing homes. A new construction home cost an average of 475,000 euros in the second quarter.

Gerssen explains that the political focus on affordable new construction ensures that more homes fall into this segment. According to NVM, the recent dip in the new construction market, in which especially more expensive projects sold less well, has also probably led to some caution in determining the price of new homes.