More properties, tighter rental market as investors continue to sell former rentals

The Dutch housing market is adjusting as investors continue to sell former rental properties, a trend that has increased the supply of homes for sale but tightened the rental market, according to the Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM).

Sales, driven by stricter rent and tax regulations affecting property investors, have increased the number of homes available for purchase over the past year.

After the two-year ban on temporary rental contracts fully takes effect on July 1, NVM anticipates a slowdown in this trend. Many investors who intended to exit the rental market are likely to have sold their properties by that date.

“People are also more willing to put their homes on the market because they have more confidence that they themselves can buy a home,” said Lana Goutsmits-Gerssen, chair of NVM Wonen, during the release of fourth-quarter housing market figures. She expressed concern about the pace of growth in newly built homes, which remains insufficient.

Goutsmits- Gerssen noted that the trend of selling former rental properties, known as uitponden, has consequences for the rental sector. The market is becoming tighter, particularly in the private rental sector, and housing for typical renters, including expats, is increasingly scarce. “It is a shift of the problem from the purchase market to the rental market,” she said. "Make the right choices and don't block building and investing."

The impact of uitponden is particularly evident near the NATO base in Brunssum, Limburg. Local real estate agent Jack van Oppen explained that NATO personnel, who usually seek rental housing for three to four years, are finding fewer options as landlords leave the market. The demand is so high that NATO staff have contacted him directly for potential solutions.