Last year construction companies handed over the keys to almost 71,000 new homes, the highest number since 2009, the national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

The total is up 6% on 2018 but still 4,000 homes below the government’s target of 75,000 a year.

The figure does not include office and home conversions, in which existing buildings are converted into flats. That would add a further 6,000 new homes to the total, the CBS said.

Most new homes – 5,000 – were built in Amsterdam – but this is well below the city’s target of 7,500, despite assurances from housing alderman Laurens Ivens that the programme is relatively on schedule. The city’s own figures at the end of last year put the total, including conversions, at 7,100.

Diemen on the outskirts of the Dutch capital showed the biggest increase in percentage terms, adding 1,200 new homes to its housing stock.

Slowdown

Last week the construction sector economic institute EIB said in a new report that 5% fewer new homes would be delivered this year.

The downturn is due to the nitrogen compound pollution crisis, which has halted a number of building projects, the EIB said. In addition, the organisation said, the measures which are being introduced, such as a lower motorway speed limit and cuts in livestock farming, will take time to filter through.

The number of permits for new building projects was also down sharply last year, and those are homes which would have been built this year and in 2021.