Rents went up in July this year, though the rise was smaller than over the last two years, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Across the country, average rent costs were up 4.4 per cent compared to the same month last year. Every year on 1 July, the government sets the maximum limit for annual rent increases, and many landlords choose to adjust their prices by this allowed amount straight away.
Private sector tenants saw the largest jump, paying an average of 4.5 per cent more per month than they did a year earlier. Meanwhile, social housing rents also went up, with housing associations raising prices by an average of 4.4 per cent and other social landlords charging a slightly smaller increase of 4.1 per cent. Among the four largest Dutch cities, Rotterdam experienced the highest average rise at 4.7 per cent, while Amsterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague recorded increases between 4.3 and 4.5 per cent.
Although the 4.5 per cent average in the private sector appears to break the government’s 4.4 per cent cap, CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen explained that this is not actually the case. When a tenant moves out and a private property becomes empty, the landlord is no longer bound by the annual cap and can easily charge a higher rate, such as 10 per cent more. Because these tenant transitions are factored into the overall figures, the actual average increase across the market is almost always higher than the cap, even though tenants who stayed in their existing homes saw a lower average rise of 3.8 per cent.
@anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
