For the first time students in the Netherlands on average pay over 400 euros per month for a room. Student housing rents increased more than 5 percent compared to last year, according to student housing website Kamernet, RTL Nieuws reports.
Amsterdam is the most expensive when it comes to student housing, with an average price of 571 euros per month for a room. Rotterdam saw a student housing rent increase of 7.4 percent to 460 euros per month.
Amsterdam residents are more concerned about the housing shortage in the city than the crowds of tourists or crime, according to a bi-annual survey the municipality did among 2,378 residents, Het Parool reports.
57 percent of respondents called the housing shortage their main concern. This is especially a worry for young people between 16 and 29 years old. 38 percent are worried about tourism, and 31 percent about crime.
About half of the residents think that Amsterdam is heading in the right direction. 39 percent disagree.
The prices of existing homes in the Netherlands increased by 8.8 percent in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, reaching a record high. The number of home sales decreased almost everywhere in the country, Statistics Netherlands and the Land Registry reported on Friday.
A group of six young Amsterdam residents moved into a part of a monumental building on Jan Luijkenstraat on Sunday afternoon. The squatters believe that the owner of the building wants to open a hotel there, and they "don't want that to happen", their spokesperson said to AT5.
Homeless shelters in the four large Dutch cities are overcrowded and the number of homeless people is increasing, according to the courts of audit for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. A big reason for this is the shortage of housing, which means that no home can be found where a homeless person can start building a new life, according to the auditors, RTL Nieuws reports.
Rents in the Netherlands free sector continue to rise, especially outside the four large cities. The average rental price in the Netherlands increased by nearly 6 percent compared to a year ago, according to figures rental housing site Pararius released on Tuesday, NOS reports.
The housing shortage in the Netherlands is estimated to keep growing until 2020, reaching a peak around the end of 2018, according to a study by real estate advisor Capital Value in collaboration with ABF Research, NU.nl reports.
More high-rise buildings are needed in Amsterdam to compensate for the increasing housing shortage in the Dutch capital, Maxime Verhagen, chairman of Bouwend Nederland and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, said in an interview with the Telegraaf.
Verhagen calls for the brake on building high-risers to be lifted in the city. "Should you maintain that brake? That is the question if you want affordable housing in the middle segment."
In an effort to deal with the housing shortage in Amsterdam, a massive 27 thousand new homes were built in the Dutch capital over the past four years of the city coalition's reign. This year construction started on nearly 7.300 homes, the city said in a press statement on Wednesday. Despite these new homes, housing prices in Amsterdam are still increasing alarmingly. The city will therefore collaborate more with regional municipalities, building 60 thousand more homes in the region up until 2020.
The departing Dutch government's policies inadvertently caused the current shortage in new housing facing the Netherlands, according to the NVB association for developers and construction. The association is calling for the new government to appoint a "strong minister for housing and building" who, when taking measures, also considers the consequences for the construction sector, ANP reports.
In the past quarter the number of homes sold in the Netherlands decreased for the first time in nearly three years, according to realtors association NVM. The association attributes the decrease to a shortage in available homes on the market. There were 97 thousand existing homes for sale throughout the Netherlands last quarter - the lowest number since 2004, NOS reports.
In April, May and June 56,900 homes were sold in the Netherlands, a decrease of 0.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year.
The student housing shortage in Amsterdam is getting worse and worse, and if nothing is done about it, students will start opting for universities in other Dutch cities, a group of Amsterdam universities, colleges and housing corporations said in an urgent call to the municipality. According to them, Amsterdam needs at least 2 thousand new student homes per year, Het Parool reports.
The former Social Affairs Ministry off ice is The Hague is to be used to house approximately 600 refugees until the end of the year. The announcement was made by the municipality of The Hague, reported NU.nl .The ministry is moving to the recently vacated building next to Laan van NOI station.
Due to the housing shortage, Amsterdam is falling behind on placing refugees in homes. The municipality now wants to limit the flow of asylum seekers to the city from next year, De Volkskrant reports.
Rental homes have never been more expensive in Amsterdam, according to online housing market Pararius. Prices have gone up with 5.6 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to last year, the NOS reports.
