Sell-off of rental properties continues; New, pricier rentals keeping supply stable
Private landlords continued selling their rental properties into the owner-occupied market in the first quarter of this year. The sell-off was particularly noticeable in university centuries, where 1,900 rentals disappeared. Despite this, the total number of Dutch rental properties decreased only slightly, thanks to large investors buying and building new homes, the Dutch Land Registry said in its quarterly report.
Landlords, private landlords in particular, have been selling their rentals as soon as tenants terminate their contracts for over two years. Due to a combination of rent regulation for mid-market properties, higher taxes on rental income, and the abolition of temporary leases, many small investors feel that they are earning too little from their rentals to keep them.
In the first four months of 2025, another 13,000 rental properties were sold into the owner-occupied market. Two-thirds of these went to first-time buyers, who benefit from a larger supply of mid-market properties.
The wave of sales did weaken somewhat in the first quarter. The Land Registry thinks this is due to Housing Minister Mona Keijzer saying in April that she wanted to relax the rules for private landlords. The second quarter of this year will show whether the promises were enough to slow or stop the sell-off.
The sell-off is particularly noticeable in university cities like Leiden, Wageningen, Groningen, Maastricht, and Delft. The number of rentals sold in these cities doesn’t differ much from the national average, but hardly any new homes are being purchased for rental. As a result, the decrease of 1,900 rentals in the first quarter is immediately noticeable. According to the Land Registry, the high transfer tax discourages investors from purchasing new rentals. Many of these cities also have purchase protection in place, which means that only buyers who are going to live in a house can buy it.
Despite the sell-off by private landlords, the total share of rental homes decreased only slightly, from 9.3 percent a year ago to 9.2 percent in the first quarter. This is due to large investors having many new homes built, over 17,000 in the past year. That largely cancels out the 19,000 rental homes sold into the owner-occupied market in the past year.
The downside is that the new rentals are a lot more expensive. Former rentals bought by first-time buyers cost an average of 340,000 euros. New rentals are much pricier with an average price tag of 540,000. So these new homes will likely not alleviate the growing shortage of mid-range rentals.
