The total number of apartments and houses in the Netherlands grew by nearly 82,000 last year, down 20% on the government’s target, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS.

Of them, 52,200 were properties for sale, 20,200 were rental homes owned by the private sector and 8,400 were built by housing corporations, which own most of the country’s social housing.

The increase takes the number of homes in the Netherlands to 8.2 million, of which 57% are owner occupied, 28% owned by housing corporations and 14% by the private sector.

The figures also show considerable movement within the private rental markets. Landlords sold 49,000 rental homes which became owner occupied and bought 38,000 homes to turn into rentals. This means that the number of private rental properties went down by some 12,000 last year, after rising 3,000 in 2022.

The decline in the number of private rentals is further evidence that landlords are selling off smaller homes when they become vacant because of new rules expanding rent controls to most private sector properties.

In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven and The Hague, 1% of private rental homes became owner-occupier properties.

Figures from rental platform Pararius show the pressure on apartments with a rent between the social housing limit of €880 and €1162 has increased enormously. The number of available properties has gone down by 20% while demand is up over 25%.

Mid-market rentals, which are rent-controlled but have no income requirements, are online for an average of just seven days in the big cities. Properties that cost more than €1162 and fall outside the rent control system are online for 22 days on average before finding a new tenant.