Rental prices in many Dutch cities and seven of the 12 provinces have reached record levels but the rise has slowed in Amsterdam, according the latest quarterly report issued by housing platform Pararius.

On average, rents have risen to €15.23 per square metre for new contracts but have topped €22 per square metre in the capital – the equivalent of €1,100 for an apartment of 50 square metres.

Pararius director Jasper de Groot says rents have now risen to the limit of what people will say in the central urban belt stretching from Amsterdam to Utrecht and The Hague, where rents rose around 3%. ‘People were making concessions and paying more, but now the supply no longer meets demand.’

Outside the Randstad, prices have continued to rise. The biggest increases were recorded in Flevoland, where rents rose an average of 18.3% over the year, Pararius said.

In total, 40,000 people were registered on the Pararius platform in the third quarter, up from 24,000 in the second quarter of this year.  ‘This is partly due to increased demand and partly seasonal factors because many students and expats register in the summer months,’ De Groot said.

Rent increase

The rise in rents means it is now extremely difficult for people on average salaries to find a place to live, if they cannot buy. On Tuesday, home affairs minister Kajsa Ollongren told MPs it is ‘crucial’ that more homes with rents of between €700 and €1,000 a month are built.

Meanwhile, the housing aldermen in 12 of the Netherlands’ student cities have called on Ollongren to get tough on landlords who are exploiting the dire shortage of student homes in some areas.

In particular, they want the minister to give them more powers to tackle landlords whom they consider charge excessive rents, intimidate their tenants and fail to keep their properties in good repair.

Some 13% of the Netherlands housing stock is in the non-rent controlled sector, 29% are rent-controlled and 56% owner occupied.