Private student housing supply plummets in Dutch university cities
In Amsterdam, the supply of private student rooms fell by more than a quarter, in Utrecht and Rotterdam by nearly a third, and in Delft, the drop was 43.6 percent, NRC reports. Landlords have reportedly been increasingly selling their properties, raising concerns among local politicians and students who rely on the private rental sector. In addition to the decline in private rentals, new student housing has progressed slowly in recent years.
There is no national registry tracking current private rental availability. To assess the student housing market, NRC analyzed listings for rental units smaller than 25 square meters. The analysis found that the supply of smaller units is shrinking four times faster than the overall supply of private rentals. Cities with a high concentration of small rental units experienced the largest declines.
Delft is the biggest outlier. The supply of student housing there dropped 43.6 percent; between July and September 2024, prospective tenants could respond to 305 rooms. In the same quarter this year, only 172 were available.
According to NRC, about half of students live in rooms owned by private landlords, many of whom have sold their rental properties in large numbers over the past two years due to high taxes and layers of regulations that make renting more complicated and less profitable. For example, energy labels are now factored into setting maximum rent, which lowers returns for poorly maintained student properties.
In Delft, student organizations have united under Studentenhuisvesting Overleg Studentenbelangenorganisaties (S.O.S.) to put the local housing shortage high on the political agenda. In an urgent letter this spring, S.O.S. warned that by 2030, a quarter to half of all 1,400 private student houses could disappear.
