While rents for new contracts in the non-rent controlled sector fell marginally in the final quarter of 2022 overall, they rose sharply in the big cities, with an 11% hike recorded in Amsterdam, according to the latest quarterly figures from rental housing platform Pararius.

The number of rental properties coming on the market also fell 9% nationwide, the Pararius figures show.

In the big cities, such as Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven, landlords are selling their properties because of new government rules, and that would appear to be pushing up demand for the remaining ‘free sector’ properties, Pararius director Jasper de Groot said.

‘What is happening in Amsterdam is pure market forces,’ De Groot said. ‘Supply and demand are increasingly out of balance. We also see that investors are pulling out of Amsterdam and selling their properties, which explains the fall in supply.’

The government is planning to expand the current point based rent control system to cover at least 90% of the market, and investors say it will no longer be profitable to rent them out.

Taxes on landlords are also being increased and local councils are bringing in their own restrictions on who can live in vacant properties.

‘The non-rent controlled sector accounts for just 8% of the total housing supply, and that shortage will only increase if the government’s plans to regulate mid-market rents continue,’ De Groot said.