Housing corporations still dominate city rental housing sector

More private investors may have moved into the Dutch housing rental market but housing corporations continue to dominate in the biggest cities, the Volkskrant said on Tuesday.

In total 64% of the rental housing market in the biggest Dutch cities is in the hands of housing corporations. The one exception is The Hague, where private and institutional investors have 45% of the market.

In all the big Dutch cities – ranging from Amsterdam to Utrecht and Maastricht – there is a shortage of housing with rents of €720 to €1,000, the paper says.

Some, such as The Hague, have introduced an income requirement for mid-market rentals, but experts say the solution is to build more homes rather than place further restrictions on the already limited supply.

‘The underlying problem, the major shortage in mid-market rentals, will only get bigger,’ Jasper de Groot, director of rental housing platform Pararius told DutchNews.nl earlier this year.

‘Rather than stimulate investors to build for this sector, the council is frightening them off. That will lead to there being fewer homes in the non-rental controlled sector and further rent increases.’

Return

Not enough mid-market properties are being built because the return on investment is too low for investors, Delft University professor Marja Elsinga told the paper.

‘That is why housing corporations should jump in and fill the gap,’ she said.

Housing minister Kasja Ollongren is currently working on draft legislation to allow corporations to move into the non-rent controlled sector.