Average rents for new housing contracts have again risen less than 5% but are still shooting up in big cities such as Rotterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven, rental housing agency Pararius said on Wednesday.

In Eindhoven, for example, average prices rose almost 10% year on year, to €970 for a 65 square metre flat while in Rotterdam rents are up 8.6%.  In Amsterdam, by contrast, prices rose 3.6%, taking the average rent for a 65-square metre apartment to €1,513.

Nevertheless, the cost of renting a home in the cities has risen less than in the peripheral towns such as Haarlem, Almere, Delft and Schiedam, Pararius said. In Schiedam, for example, rents have shot up 20% year on year, in Haarlem over 11%

City officials plan to get tough on rents in Amsterdam’s non-rent controlled sector and want to introduce a maximum, based on the value of the property.

But Pararius director Jasper de Groot said the measures are ‘symbolic’ and will only benefit a small group of rentants.

‘The underlying problem, the major shortage in mid-market rentals, will only get bigger,’ he said. ‘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.’