Student room rents keep rising as supply declines

Students are increasingly struggling to find a room, according to the Kamernet platform. In July, August, and September, around the start of the new academic year, listings on the site were over 8 percent lower than in the same months last year. At the same time, the average rent increased by over 3 percent, reported the widely used student room search site.

Kamernet’s figures are based on rooms and apartments advertised for rent through the site. In the third quarter of last year, 5,937 rooms were listed on the platform. This year, there were 5,453. Rooms offered by housing corporations are not included in the overview.

In Leiden, the average rent increased by over 27 percent. Last year, students paid an average of €427 per month for a room listed on Kamernet; now it’s €600. In The Hague and Delft, prices have risen by approximately 14 percent. Amsterdam is the most expensive city, with an average rent of €950 per month. In Breda and Eindhoven, rents decreased compared to last year.

According to Kamernet, it has become less attractive for private landlords to rent rooms to students due to stricter regulations and higher costs. “These landlords see more advantage in selling their property, especially due to the current high sales prices, rather than facing rising costs, maximum rents, and uncertainty due to regulations,” the platform said.

This phenomenon isn’t isolated to student housing. Due to rent regulations in the mid-market segment and changes to how wealth is taxed, smaller landlords throughout the housing market are selling their rentals into the owner-occupied market.