Questions are being asked in Amsterdam’s city hall after officials launched an advertising campaign in London praising ‘cheap’ rents in the Dutch capital.

A Twitter user known as Hackney Cyclist posted a photograph of the advert which was thought up by the city’s marketing bureau Amsterdam Marketing. ‘When you realise it’s monthly rent, not weekly’, the poster states.

Socialist councilors have called on the city to withdraw the campaign. ‘Who on earth dreamed this up,’ said councillor Tiers Bakker. ‘People with their roots in the city are being driven out by high rents and the city is advertising at people with fat wallets and no links to the city. This is why house prices are going up.’

Council spokesman Peter Paul Ekker told the Parool that the poster is not a joke, but part of the city’s campaign to attract companies to leave London and move to Amsterdam because of Brexit.

He said the tone of future advertising would be discussed with Amsterdam Marketing in January.

Housing rents in Amsterdam have soared in recent years because of the shortage of non-rent controlled homes. Newcomers can expect to pay upwards of €1,500 for one-room apartment of 50 square metres – if they can find one.

Average new rental contracts in the city are now over €2,200, according to research by housing platform Pararius.

Dutch advert targeting young professionals in East London to move pic.twitter.com/pfiWnMjzKQ

— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) December 21, 2017

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