Mass sell-off of rental properties starting to pressure home prices: ABN Amro

Landlords’ large-scale sell-off of rental properties made unprofitable by rent regulation and tax changes is starting to pressure home prices, ABN Amro said in a report. The increase in supply of homes for sale will have “a slowing effect on the price growth of owner-occupied homes,” the bank said, according to the Telegraaf.

The first “cautious signs” of this were already visible in the last quarter of 2024. “The average price of owner-occupied homes in Amsterdam and Leiden, among others, fell for the first time in a long time,” the bank said. “It is no coincidence that these are two municipalities with a relatively high share of rental properties owned by private investors.”

According to the bank, private landlords in the western parts of the Netherlands, in particular, are selling their rentals into the owner-occupied market. The private rental markets in the municipalities around large cities are hit particularly hard.

For example, in Ridderkerk, Krimpen aan den Ijssel, and Maasluis - municipalities around Rotterdam - respectively, 19 percent, 18 percent, and 17 percent of rental properties were sold into the owner-occupied market last year.

The ABN Amro economists noted that the increase in home prices had little effect on landlords’ decision to sell their properties. “The additional figures from the Land Registry show that the share of rental properties sold off by private investors is indeed higher in municipalities where the average house prices rose the fastest between 2014 and 2024. However, the correlation is not strong.”