Despite calls for more to be done to build new homes in the Netherlands, local authorities handed out fewer permits for new developments in the first quarter of this year than in 2021.

In total, councils cleared the way for 16,600 new homes in the first three months of the year, almost 13% down on a year ago, national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.

It takes an average of two years to build a new home, from permit to completion.

The government has set a target of 100,000 new homes a year in an effort to boost the supply – taking the total by 2030 to around one million. Over the past few years, around 70,000 homes a year have been completed.

The CBS analysis of the construction industry also illustrates how prices are rising across the sector. Turnover in the timber and construction material sector grew by 11.5% while small firms, with fewer than 10 employers, saw their turnover increase by an average of 13.6%.