Lowest rental home price increase since 1960

July saw the lowest rental home price increase since 1960, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. The government temporarily froze the prices of social rental housing during the pandemic and limited the options for making the private sector housing more expensive.

Apartment rents rose by 0.8 percent in July compared to the same month last year.

In the social sector, rental homes became 0.3 percent more expensive while in the private sector, rental home prices increased by 2.2 percent. In 2020, the price increase lay respectively at 2.7 and 3 percent.

Since July, the prices of social housing are not allowed to rise for one year. The maximum rent increased was already capped for the private sector in May. The rule prohibits rents from rising more than 2.4 percent this year.

Rents at housing associations could be reduced once this if residents paid too much for their home or their income was too low.

Landlords are allowed to raise the rent if new residents move in. With a change of residents, people paid a 7.2 percent higher rent compared to July of last year.

The rental home price differed depending on the city and province. In Overijssel, rents increased by an average of 1.4 percent, while in Friesland they fell by an average of 0.1 percent.

Out of the four major cities in the Netherlands, the rental prices increased the least in The Hague at 0.8 percent and the most in Utrecht with an increase of 1.6 percent.