The residential building sector is operating at between 50% and 60% capacity, Elco Brinkman, the head of the building company association Bouwend Nederland said on Friday.

The sector has been hard hit by the reluctance of banks to extend credit and the government to intervene, Brinkman said.
And he called on the government and central bank to broaden the scope of the bank loan guarantee scheme. ‘Then pension funds and other capital providers will extend credit to building firms and housing corporations again,’ he said.