Rent increase in the private sector leveling off slightly

Great fear of adverse effects of government intervention


In the second quarter of 2022, the average rent for private sector rental homes rose by 1.3 percent compared to a year ago. This is apparent from figures from housing platform Pararius. The rental market therefore shows a very different picture than the owner-occupied market, where prices rose by 10.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022.

Pararius distinguishes between three delivery forms for rental housing: bare, upholstered and furnished. Upholstered homes (€16.11) did not change in price in the past quarter compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Furnished rental homes rose on average by 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2022. New tenants paid € 19.89 per square meter per month. This delivery form is the most expensive per square meter. New tenants paid 9.2 percent more for basic rental homes compared to the first quarter of 2021. The square meter price for this type of home was € 15.02 per month.


The NVM and VGM NL also published quarterly figures on the Dutch rental market in July, which stated a national average square meter price of € 15.35. The national square meter price in the report of the NVM and VGM NL is based on basic rental properties. Because approximately 77 percent of all rental properties in the Netherlands are rented out furnished or unfurnished, Pararius also includes these homes in its calculations. If we only look at the average square meter price of basic rental homes (Paarius: € 15.02), this square meter price corresponds to that of the NVM and VGM NL. The difference is 2 percent.”

G5 cities including Utrecht

In the five largest cities in the Netherlands - Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Utrecht - the average rent for private sector homes rose in percentage terms more than the national average. In Eindhoven, the "cheapest" G5 city, new tenants paid 11.1 percent more than a year ago (€17.25) and in Amsterdam, rents for private sector homes rose by 10.5 percent. New tenants in the capital paid an average of € 24.67 per square meter per month.

In The Hague (€ 17.30) and Rotterdam (€ 17.37), the square meter price is close to the national average. The rental price of private sector homes rose in these cities by 3.4 and 7.4 percent respectively. In Utrecht, the square meter price is above twenty euros: new tenants paid an average of € 20.06 for a rental home, 3.4 percent more than last year.

Leveling off price rise in the private sector


Despite the fact that rents rose again in the past quarter, the rent increase is leveling off. Percentage price decreases were measured from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, which was a direct effect of the corona pandemic and the additional consequences for the rental market. During that period it became clear that rents fell due to a decrease in demand and an increase in supply from the stagnant short-stay tourism market. This arose from competition among landlords who abruptly lowered their prices to avoid expensive vacancy.


With economic growth, a price increase of around five percent is completely normal, so the percentage price increase of 1.3% as average for this quarter is actually not that bad. Prices on the owner-occupied market have been rising much faster since 2017, with an increase of 13.7% in the first quarter of 2022, caused by the high borrowing capacity in combination with a low mortgage interest rate. There is now also a turning point.


Source: @Pararius and @NVM