The town of Emmen in the province of Drenthe is home to the most popular ‘Vinex’ neighbourhood in the Netherlands – the name given to housing developments built in the late 1990s and 2000s as part of a strategic expansion in the country’s housing stock.

People are prepared to pay 25% more for a home in the Emmen housing estate of Delftlanden than in the town itself, according to research by property consultancy Colliers.

Colliers compared the square metre price of homes in these new residential neighbourhoods in 25 of the country’s biggest local authority areas. It found that in half the areas, prices in the Vinex estates were higher than the average for the town. In the other half, prices were lower.

‘Vinex neighbourhoods are often described as being uniform places where no-one wants to live, but in practice a lot of them are working well,’ Colliers researcher Frank Verwoed told the Financieele Dagblad. ‘In Delftlanden people will pay €2,000 per square metre but in Emmen as a whole the price is €1,560.’

Emmen’s popularity may be due to its good public transport links, he said.

Other popular Vinex neighbourhoods can be found in Zoetermeer, Leeuwarden and The Hague. But bottom of the list is IJburg, the new island developments south of Amsterdam.

There the square metre price is €4,400, which is some €1,500 below the city average. IJburg, said Verwoed, has not become an alternative for Amsterdammers. The district is often criticised for having poor public transport links to the rest of the city, apart from to central station.