"Worrisome" decrease in student housing supply as rents increase 10%

The availability of affordable student housing is a growing problem in the Netherlands. The average rental price for rooms across the Netherlands increased by 10 percent between 2020 and 2022, and the available supply showed a “worrisome” decrease, rental site Kamernet said in its Rental Report 2022. “ “Students and young professionals are increasingly putting their dreams aside because there is no accommodation available or affordable in the cities where they want to study, do an internship, or work,” Kamernet said. “Especially in the big cities, demand exceeds the available supply many times, and prices have risen to unprecedented heights.” Private landlords still offer most of the available rentals on Kamernet, though their proportion dropped from 49.7 percent in 2020 to 47 percent last year. And municipalities are implementing purchase protection to discourage buy-to-let and keep homes affordable for first-time buyers.“However, these plans have the undesirable consequence that the business case of many landlords and property investors is considerably less - or no longer - profitable.” “Taking into account the national and local measures, we expect that the supply on the rental market will continue declining to historic levels while the demand will only increase,” Kamernet said.