Dutch rents continue to rise, especially in Amsterdam, Rotterdam

Rents in the Netherlands continue to rise. In July, the average rents were 2.5 percent higher than in the same month last year. The highest increases happened in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday.

The rents of social housing owned by housing corporations increased by 2 percent. Rents for social housing owned by other landlords and rents in free-sector housing both increased by 3.3 percent. In all three categories, the rents increased more than last year.

The highest rent increases happened in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, 3.4 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. Rents in The Hague increased the same as the national average, and Utrecht came in just below average at 2.4 percent.

The relatively high increases in Amsterdam and Rotterdam also resulted in their provinces Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland having the highest rent increases, 2.5 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. Drenthe had the lowest increase at 1.9 percent this year. Though that is still considerably higher than the 1.1 percent increase in the province in 2017 and 2018.

The average rent increase of 2.5 percent is also higher than last year, when rents rose by 2.3 percent. The average rent increase is now almost as high as the 2.6 percent average of the last decade.