Non-rent-controlled sector rents rose 1.9% in the first three months of this year, according to research by housing platform Pararius.

The rise takes the average rent outside the social housing sector to €12.61 per square metre or €1,294 a month, the Pararius figures show.

In Amsterdam, however, the average rent is over €20 per square metre – or €2,001 a month, down fractionally on the previous quarter. In the other big cities, average rents are between €1,200 and €1,350 a month, Pararius said.

The company’s director Jasper de Groot says the increase is unsurprising given the shortage of available housing in the €700 to €1,000 a month range. People earning more than €35,000 a year are not eligible for rent-controlled property but the supply of cheaper free sector property is too small to meet demand.

‘It is hardly surprising that 600,000 people in the Netherlands are living in property which they technically earn too much for,’ De Groot said. ‘There is no alternative for them available in the non-rent-controlled sector.’

Non-rent-controlled housing currently makes up just 4% of Dutch housing stock.