Unbe-live-able: The Netherlands faces its highest rent increase ever since 2014

Thinking of relocating to the lowlands? Think again. As of July, rent just became 3% more expensive than 12 months before — making it the highest it’s ever been since 2014.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) just confirmed everything we already know about the Dutch rental market: It’s crazy expensive.

Prices in private sector housing contributed the most to the rental market jump, which rose at 3.8% in a single year. Those in social housing paid an average of 2.6% more.

Welcome to the Randstad, our housing market is 💩

If you check Funda, Kamernet or any website listing rental properties, you’ll notice the closer you get to the big cities, the steeper rent prices become.

It’s no surprise that your typical rent for an apartment the size of a cardboard box now clocks in at 3.6% more expensive in Amsterdam. 

And the city of Utrecht follows not too far behind, charging woners (residents) 3.5% more for rent.

Prices to rent an apartment in North Holland are 3.4% more expensive than the year before. In Drenthe and Friesland, they increased by 2.5%.

Half your income spent on rent

The Dutch housing association, Woonbond, voiced their concerns about the sky-high rent on folks in the Netherlands. 

“Higher rent is accompanied by a higher energy bill. Housing together is therefore rapidly becoming more expensive for tenants,” the association tells RTL Nieuws.

READ MORE | The housing market in the Netherlands in 2022: to buy or not to buy a house?

A previous agreement between housing associations and Minister of Public Housing, Hugo de Jonge, stated more than 500,000 households with a low income will receive a rent reduction in 2024.

However, as inflation, gas prices, and other costs continue to rise, such a reduction is not nearly enough to compensate for struggling tenants, who simply want higher allowances and lower rent prices.

READ MORE | Ch-ch-changes! Dutch cabinet to increase minimum wage by 10% next year

Next to that, tenants urge the Dutch cabinet to come up with additional measures that’ll prevent them from paying high rent for poorly insulated homes. 

Woonbond suggested that single-glazed windows become the norm in homes from now on, until a rent reduction can take effect.

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Feature Image:Depositphotos
Gaelle Salem
Gaelle Salem
Born and raised on the island of Sint Maarten, Gaelle moved to the Netherlands in 2018 to attend university. Still trying to survive the erratic Dutch wind and rain, she has taken up the hobby of buying a new umbrella every month. You can probably find her in the centre of The Hague appreciating the Dutch architecture with a coffee in one hand and a slice of appeltaart in the other.

1 COMMENT

  1. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or housing, or utilities, or medical care. If you can’t afford what you WANT you chose something you can afford . And if you can’t afford even that you do without.

    Of course if you live somewhere other than the Netherlands, you just head here and you’ll get all you want and more. Not admitting so-called “refugees” AND shipping back those who are here will definitely improve the lives of DUTCH CITIZENS, but race-baiters will fight this tooth and nail.

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