The number of available rental properties in the private sector has shrunk for the third quarter in a row. This time, the supply fell by more than 36 percent compared to the same period last year. Rental prices and the number of responses to rental properties also increased.
The figures come from housing platform Pararius. In the past quarter, 12,744 rental properties became available in the private sector. A year earlier, 20,026 rental properties came onto the market in the same period. As the supply decreases, competition among seekers increases, which drives up the average price.
Dutch people now pay an average of 1,830 euros per month for a private sector rental property. Prices rose in almost all of the Netherlands and for the first time the average per square meter is above 20 euros per month.
Landlords in the private sector often use an income standard. The tenant must then earn at least three times the monthly rent per month, which amounts to an average gross monthly income of more than 5,490 euros. That is 800 euros more than a year ago, concludes the rent monitor.
“We notice that people are becoming desperate,” Pararius director Jasper de Groot tells NU.nl. “We now sometimes see rental properties that receive more than a thousand responses.” The average in the private sector is 57 responses. In the same quarter last year that was still 41.
Competition is fiercest in the lower segment, with rental prices between 1,185 and 1,500 euros per month. These homes quickly have a new tenant or are sold by landlords who are struggling with the stricter rental rules.
Figures also show that rents are rising throughout the country, with a few exceptions.
Pararius sees that due to the lack of supply, more and more people are responding to rental properties in the middle segment, with rental prices between 1,500 and 2,000 euros. Shortages are also increasing rapidly there.
“We are seeing a growing group of people who earn too much for social housing, but too little to enter the private sector,” says De Groot. “Middle incomes are falling between two stools.”
The sale of rental properties was positive for first-time buyers last year. They were able to purchase their first home more often because there was more supply. Starters are now struggling more again, because prices for owner-occupied homes are also rising sharply.