Senior buyers boost Dutch housing market by freeing up large family homes
A new Kadaster study shows older buyers are playing a key role in the Dutch housing market by purchasing a large share of new-build apartments and, crucially, triggering a chain reaction that frees up larger family homes, AD reports.
Between 2018 and 2024, people aged 55 and older bought 28 percent of all newly built homes in the Netherlands. They were especially active in the apartment segment, accounting for 56 percent of new-build apartment purchases. More than 80 percent of those apartments were at least 80 square meters.
The study found that nearly 90 percent of senior buyers leave behind a single-family home when they move, totaling about 50,000 homes over the 2018–2024 period. Those homes average 164 square meters.
The significance, researchers say, is that each senior move does not just create one vacancy but can set off a “moving chain”: seniors move into newly built apartments, younger families move into the larger homes they leave behind, and further starter homes are then freed up downstream in the market.
On average, seniors move into homes of about 136 square meters while showing a willingness to relocate further than younger buyers. Seniors move about 17 kilometers on average, compared with 11 to 12 kilometers for younger buyers.
Kadaster researcher Hans Wisman said seniors are more mobile when suitable housing is available. “They are rooted in place, but if the supply is suitable, they still move,” he said. He also noted they are willing to move farther than expected.
