Buying a newly built home in Amsterdam? You must live in it yourself

Amsterdam officials want to bring in new rules to make sure that people who buy newly-built homes in the city actually live in them, rather than rent them out.

The move, according to alderman Laurens Ivens, would stop private investors buying up properties and, therefore, driving up house prices. The ban on rentals would be incorporated into the ground rent rules, he said. The city owns most of the building land.

‘An increasing number of new homes are being bought by investors who want to rent them out for enormous amounts,’ Ivens said. ‘These investors can pay prices that Amsterdammers can’t compete with , and the city is becoming unaffordable, both to rent and to buy.’

Officials are looking into making exceptions for parents who buy a house for their children and for people who are posted abroad to work for a time.

Maximum

City officials are currently drawing up a variety of measures to make housing cheaper, and they are due to be presented to the full council by the end of the year.

Last week Ivens also suggesting bringing in maximum prices for mid-market properties and is discussing the implications of that plan with developers.

And earlier this week, home affairs minister Kajsa Ollongren presented a package of measures she plans to introduce to tackle holiday letting and illegal subletting.