Developers have applied for government grants to help them complete some 1,100 housing projects involving 37,500 houses, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday.

The government has set aside €150m to subsidise building projects as part of efforts to boost the construction sector, which has been hit hard by the recession.
An earlier fund totalling €100m was also oversubscribed, the paper says. However, last week it emerged 25% of the 14,000 houses being built with the help of that scheme are unlikely to be realised, the paper says.
If building does not start before 2010, the grant must be returned to the treasury.