Last year, developers and housing associations added 69,322 new homes to the Netherlands’ housing stock, over 2,000 down on the 2019 total and below government targets.

2020 was also the first year since 2015 that the number of new homes coming on the market went down, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS.

‘We don’t know if the decline is due to the nitrogen and PFAS problems, or there were fewer projects in the pipeline,’ CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told broadcaster NOS, referring to restrictions on some building projects due to pollution issues.

In 2019, fewer permits for new projects were handed out because of requirements to combat nitrogen-based pollution generated by construction. However, the impact of this will most likely be felt in 2021 and 2022, given the run-in time, Van Mulligen said.

Target

The government has set a target of 75,000 new homes a year up to 2025, to meet demand. And including conversions – such as transforming redundant offices into apartments – the total number of new homes created last year did rise to 74,565, the CBS said.

In the longer term, housing minister Kajsa Ollongren said last summer the Netherlands needs to add 845,000 new homes by 2030. The Netherlands currently has just under eight million housing units.

Most new homes – 15,000 – were built in Zuid-Holland province, with The Hague leading the way, the CBS said. In Noord-Holland and Noord Brabant, 10,000 new homes were added to the housing stock.