Housing corporations make an average of €1,500 a year profit on their rent-controlled properties and so should slash rents by 10%, according to social housing tenants lobby group Woonbond.

The average rent controlled property now costs €533 a month, a rise of 17% on 2012, the organisation says. This means that an increasing number of people in social housing are finding it hard to make ends meet.

In 2016, housing corporations booked total profits of €3bn and this is equivalent to making a profit of 23% on every house which they rent out, Woonbond said.

Marnix Norder, chairman of housing corporation umbrella group Aedes, told broadcaster NOS that that the corporations have to invest billions of euros in improving their housing stock and making homes sustainable. This means a 10% rental cut is unrealistic, he said.

Meanwhile, the government’s macro-economic think-tank CPB on Thursday said the shortage of housing for people who earn above the social housing limit of around €36,000 a year is bad for economic growth.

In places like Amsterdam, young professionals cannot find anywhere to live in the €800-€1,000 a month price range, the CPB said.