Over 3,000 homes pulled from rental market since implementation of rent regulation

Over 3,000 rental properties have disappeared from the market since the introduction of the Affordable Rent Act, which regulated rent for mid-market rentals. The supply of mid-market rentals did increase somewhat, but the more expensive segment shrank much more dramatically, NRC reports based on second and third-quarter figures from Rent.nl, an online service that points users to newly available rental properties on other platforms.

The data shows that approximately 4,000 homes disappeared from the supply in the more expensive sector, with monthly rents above 1,158 euros. That is a decrease of around a quarter. At the same time, almost 900 homes were added to the mid-range rent segment, with rents between 880 and 1,158 euros, an increase of almost 20 percent.

“The supply of mid-priced homes has generally increased. That is an effect that the government had in mind with the Affordable Rent Act,” Bart Kappenburg of Rent.nl told NRC. “At the same time, there has been a huge impoverishment in the more expensive - and much larger - segment. Net, the supply on the rental market has deteriorated enormously due to the new legislation.”

The Netherlands’ private rental sector was already quite small in international terms, accounting for approximately 8 percent of the total housing stock. In recent years, the private rental sector grew somewhat, but that trend seems to have reversed.

“Recent signals indicate that the private rental sector is shrinking,” a spokesperson for De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) told NRC. “These figures confirm that picture.”

The DNB has been concerned about the private rental sector for years. The sector is a refuge for people who earn too much for social housing, but can’t afford to buy a home. A robust private rental sector is also important for the economy because it allows people to move easily for a new job.

DNB president Klaas Knot recently made a plea for reversing the Affordable Rent Act.