Never before have so many offices in the Netherlands been empty, according to research by Dutch property group DTZ Zadelhoff for the NRC.

Currently, some eight million square metres of offices are vacant – the equivalent of 746 football pitches, the paper says. So far this year, new tenants have been found for just one million square metres.

Cities

The low occupancy rate stems from the fact office construction projects have continued unabated since 2000, research chief Frank van der Sluys told the paper.

The problem is worst in satellite cities such as Nieuwegein close to Utrecht, where one third of all office space is vacant. In Amstelveen, the vacancy rate is 26%. In Rijswijk near The Hague and Capelle aan de Ijssel near Rotterdam, the rates are 25% and 27% respectively.

The big four cities themselves also have high volumes of surplus properties.
Efforts are underway in many places to convert offices into student hostels and homes for people entering the housing market for the first time.