Some 54,000 new homes were built in the Netherlands last year, according to preliminary figures released by the national statistics office CBS on Wednesday.

The final figures will be released in May and will probably be even better, the CBS said.

Although 54,000 is the highest number of completed new homes since 2012, it is still well below the average of 76,000 delivered between 2000 and 2009.

The completions take the total number of homes in the Netherlands to 7.7 million. The biggest impact was felt in Utrecht province, where the residential property supply increased by 1%.

In Amsterdam, where there is a serious shortage of places to live, 5,058 new homes were completed. The city has plans to build 50,000 new homes by 2025.