The cost of renting housing outside the social housing sector fell across the five big cities in the Netherlands in the first quarter of this year, according to rental housing platform Pararius.

Nationwide, the price paid per square metre has fallen by 2.4% to €16.34 year on year – or €980 for a 60 square metre apartment.

Rents fell in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven in the previous quarter but have also gone down slightly in Utrecht over the first three months of this year, Pararius director Jasper de Groot said.

The drop was biggest in Amsterdam, where new tenants will pay an average of €1,300 a month for a 60 square metre property – down 7.4% year on year. The reduction is the biggest since Pararius started keeping records and marks a return to 2015 levels, De Groot said.

Tom Booij of real estate agents Booij Makelaardij, who rents out furnished property in the city centre, said that demand from international clients had gone down since the coronavirus crisis hit.

‘And if rental properties are empty because it is harder to rent them, it is only logical that rents will go down,’ he said.

In Rotterdam, the average price fell by 7.8% to €912 for a 60 square metre home. Rental prices also fell in Alkmaar, Amstelveen, Haarlem, Hilversum, Leiden and Roermond but rose in Amersfoort, Leeuwarden and Enschede.