Dutch households are spending a smaller share of their income on housing than they did five years ago, new figures from national statistics agency CBS show.

The drop is mainly due to incomes rising faster than housing costs between 2018 and 2023, the CBS said. The sharpest improvement was for tenants of housing corporation properties, whose housing costs fell from 31% to 25.4% of their income.

Homeowners and private-sector tenants also saw a small reduction in the share of income spent on housing, the CBS said.

In cash terms, however, monthly housing bills have gone up. Tenants in private sector rental housing have seen the biggest increase, with their costs rising by 23% since 2018. Homeowners’ costs rose by 6% and housing corporation tenants by 11%.

Government measures to limit energy costs and freeze rents in the social housing sector during the coronavirus crisis helped to cushion the increases for many tenants, the CBS said.

A new attempt to freeze social housing rents for two years to help low income households was this week scrapped and rents will rise 5% in July.