‘How will I buy?’: housing crisis grips the Netherlands as Dutch go to polls
N iki Struving, a 21-year-old student in Amsterdam, sits under an umbrella next to a circus tent, in bitter winds and driving rain. She is braving icy weather to campaign for more affordable housing – a key topic in Dutch regional elections this week.
For a country known for its fiscal prudence, the Netherlands is suffering a surprising housing crisis. “In a couple of years I won’t be a student any more, but where will I go?” says Struving. “Back to my parents? I have a student debt of €30,000, so how would I buy?”
Years of government policy have stimulated home ownership and left building to the market, creating a situation where many are priced out and cannot find an affordable house to buy, or to rent. Dozens of people demonstrated last week in The Hague and presented a petition with 102,621 signatures calling for affordable housing to Hugo de Jonge, the housing minister.
The average home costs €424,681, more than 10 times the modal income. From 2015 to 2021, average household disposable income increased by 25%, but house prices rocketed by 63%, fuelled by low interest and a national shortage of 390,000 homes. By the peak of its housing boom last year, houses in hotspots had increased by more than 130% since the end of 2013.
But cold winds are blowing in a country judged by the Economist to be one of the developed market’s most vulnerable to a housing crash. The most up-to-date indicators suggest house prices have dropped year-on-year by 6%, and the central bank De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), Rabobank and the IMF predict falls to come, but not enough to correct the recent, extreme price rises. The government aims to build 900,000 homes by 2030, but the high price of raw materials, increased borrowing costs and nitrogen
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