Number of rooms on rental sites drastically decreased

The supply of student rooms on rental websites has decreased by nearly 30 per cent, reports the newspaper NRC. Many landlords are reportedly closing their student houses and putting them up for sale.

The newspaper analysed data from the website rent.nl, which claims to gather rental advertisements from hundreds of websites, and compared the availability of properties up to 25 square metres from a year ago and now. This includes rooms and small properties.

In the ten student cities with the most advertised rooms, only Arnhem and Groningen saw a slight increase in supply. In Eindhoven, Utrecht, Amsterdam and The Hague, the number of advertisements decreased by around 40 per cent.

This is an indication of the state of the housing market. Politicians are attempting to mitigate the consequences of the housing crisis with legislation that, for instance, keeps rental prices in check and improves tenant protection, but this makes student housing less profitable, leading to a perceived decline in supply as landlords sell their properties. Certain exceptions for student housing apparently do not help enough.

Alarm bells

The National Student Union (LSVb) warned two years ago about this issue. “All alarm bells are going off”, said the then-president. Landlords and letting agents also made this known.

The LSVb advocated for housing benefits for room residents so that rents could increase. This would ensure that student housing remained on the market. However, that housing benefit has not materialised: politicians consider it too expensive.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Housing wants to encourage the return of the hospita, for example, by limiting the tenant protection of their room occupants. When selling the property, the hospita should be able to evict the tenant.

Building extra student housing is also an ambition that clashes with the desire to freeze rents in the social sector. If rents cannot increase, housing associations would lack sufficient funds for new construction.

Internationalisation

Some political parties blame the influx of international students for the housing crisis. This viewpoint has manifested in a distaste for English-taught programmes, although most parties now seem persuaded by criticism from large companies and border regions that internationals are indeed desperately needed.