Apartment rental prices rising as fewer homes open up for tenants

The number of transactions on the rental market has fallen to a low while rent prices have continued to rise. According to property managers, this is due to a significant shortage in rental homes. In response to changes in legislation, many rental properties have also been put up for sale. This "selling off" means that they are no longer available for new tenants.

De Nederlandse Vereniging van Makelaars (NVM), which is the largest real estate association in the country, calculated that just 6,000 rental homes were rented in the third quarter. This is a decrease of almost 19 percent compared to last year. The rental prices kept increasing by an average of seven percent annually.

“The shortage of rental homes is terrible. The group that can rent is decreasing,” said Ronald de Nas, chair at the organization of property managers VGM NL. "There has been a downward trend in the number of new rentals for more than three years now, and the end does not seem to be in sight," Lana Gerssen, chair of the NVM Wonen sector, noted. She called it a "settlement tsunami," and called on housing minister Mona Keijzer to intervene.

Keijzers predecessor Hugo de Jonge wanted to turn the tide on the rental market with the Affordable Rent Act, which came into effect on July 1 of this year. But, this law was criticized by many. Property investors find it less attractive to rent out homes due to the maximum rent for homes in the middle segment. As a result, many more rental homes would now be transferred to the purchase market.

Insurance company ASR, a large property group, already called on the Cabinet to reconsider the Affordable Rent Act. CEO Jos Baeten said in August that ASR will not be expanding its homes portfolio for now because the Netherlands has a significant housing shortage.

NVM’s numbers also show differences per province or city. Most noticeable is that a small drop in rental prices was seen in Amsterdam. "This may be caused by the withdrawal of private rental housing," De Nas suggested. "The fact remains that the shortages are unprecedentedly large, and the supply is unfortunately decreasing."