Fewer empty office buildings, shops and churches are being converted into homes, despite the government’s ambition to make better use of existing properties, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

In 2024, 8,675 new homes were created in former offices and other vacant buildings — slightly fewer than in 2023 and well below the 12,000 homes added in 2019. Earlier figures from CBS indicate that around three million square metres of office space are currently standing empty.

The most suitable buildings have already been repurposed, and those that remain are more costly or complicated to convert, Delft University professor Hilde Remøy told public broadcaster NOS. “There was a surge some 10 years ago when lots of offices were left empty because of the credit and euro crisis,” he said. “The easiest buildings to transform are now off the market.”

At the same time, the Financieele Dagblad reports that housing corporations and developers are furious about the right-wing government’s decision to freeze social housing rents for two years.

They say the move, part of the spring financial plan, will lead to tens of thousands of homes not being built, putting further pressure on the government’s target of creating 100,000 new homes a year.

The decision has blocked €53 billion in planned investments, according to Liesbeth Spies, chairwoman of housing corporation umbrella group Aedes. “How stupid can you be?” she told the paper. “We are going to find out if there are options to take legal action.”

An agreement struck between the housing sector and the government at the end of last year included a pledge by housing corporations to build 30,000 new rental homes annually and improve the energy efficiency of existing homes. These investments were partly to be funded through rent increases.

Project developers also agreed to ensure that 30% of all newly built housing would be social, with a maximum monthly rent of just over €900. This commitment is now under threat because of the rent freeze, according to developers’ organisation Neprom.

Housing minister Mona Keijzer has not yet commented on the situation.

Rental homes

At the same time, housing platform Pararius reports that the number of non-rent controlled properties available in the Netherlands has fallen by 35.5% over the past year, while average rents for new contracts have risen almost 10%.

In total, 12,677 free sector rental homes became available in the first three months of this year, Pararius said, based on its own figures, those from website Huurwoningen.nl and other data sources.

Landlords have been selling off thousands of smaller city centre flats since the government introduced tougher rent controls and higher taxes last July.

Each property now generates an average of 47 replies from potential tenants, compared with 32 a year ago, Pararius said.