Real estate investors sold “far more” more homes than they bought in the first quarter of 2025, continuing a trend that began in 2023, according to new figures from land registry office Kadaster.

New laws expanding rent controls to cover more homes and higher taxes are among the changes in the market to have influenced investors, the Kadaster said.

The decline was driven largely by small private landlords, who sold properties that were mostly bought by owner-occupiers and often in the university cities. Their share of the housing market has since dropped from 3.9% to 3.6%, the figures show.

Although the sale of rental homes continued, the overall size of the rental sector declined only slightly, as new properties built by institutional investors came onto the market, the Kadaster said. Investors now control 9.2% of the Dutch housing market, or around 764,700 homes — a drop of 0.1 percentage point compared with a year ago.

Fewer rentals

Figures released on Wednesday by rental housing platform Pararius highlight the impact of the shrinking private rental market. A mid-market property — with a monthly rent between €900 and €1,200 — now attracts an average of 425 responses in Amsterdam and 456 in Rotterdam, the company said. At the same time, supply is down nearly 13%.

“The non-rent-controlled sector has become unaffordable for many households, but they cannot get a foot in the door in the mid-market sector,” Pararius director Jasper de Groot said.

Mid-market rentals now stay online for an average of just six days, compared with 19 days for higher-priced homes.