PROVINCE OF UTRECHT – Rents in the private sector rose further in the first three months of this year in the province of Utrecht. The average rent for a square meter of living space rose by 7.5 percent to 15.09 euros. This is reported by the NVM real estate association in Nieuwegein and Vastgoedmanagement Nederland in Utrecht.
Especially in Amersfoort, new tenants have to dig deeper into their pockets. Between January and March, Amersfoort residents paid an average of 14.00 euros per square meter as monthly rent. That is 14.6 percent more than in the first quarter of last year.
In Utrecht, the average rent increased by 5.4 percent to a square meter price of 16.10 euros. This makes the municipality the most expensive large city in the country after Amsterdam and Haarlem when it comes to rented houses. Amersfoort is seventh in that ranking.
‘Traffic is broken’
The number of transactions in the Netherlands – the number of newly rented homes – fell sharply by almost 30 percent. In a press release, NVM chairman Onno Hoes writes that the private sector rental housing market is deteriorating further. “The lack of supply in all segments of the rental and owner-occupied housing market means that the flow both within and between these segments is completely broken.”
Rents in all provinces were higher in the past quarter than twelve months previously. The price per square meter rose the fastest in Limburg, at almost 14 percent. Prices in Friesland, Zeeland and Drenthe also rose by more than ten percent compared to the first quarter of 2021. Incidentally, tenants in these provinces still lose less than the national average.
Price increases
Of the eleven large municipalities surveyed, Almere and Eindhoven are also notable for significant price increases, in addition to Amersfoort. In Amsterdam – which is by far the most expensive at more than 20 euros per square meter – prices rose by six percent. New tenants in the city of Groningen paid an average of 0.4 percent more in the past quarter, which means that the increase in the northern provincial capital was relatively limited.
The Woonbond believes that above all, the sky-high rents in the free sector must be tackled. “The focus has been on growth of the free rental sector, while the social rental sector has actually become smaller due to the policy of recent years. At the same time, nothing has been done to improve the position of tenants in the free sector,” said spokesperson for the tenants’ association Marcel trip.