Number of student rooms on rental sites has dropped significantly

NRC analysed (link in Dutch) data from the website rent.nl, which claims to collect rental advertisements from hundreds of websites, and looked at the supply of homes up to 25 square metres a year ago and now. These are therefore rooms and small homes.

In the ten student cities with the most advertised rooms, the supply has only increased slightly in Arnhem and Groningen. In Eindhoven, Utrecht, Amsterdam and The Hague, the number of advertisements fell by around 40 percent. In Delft, the decline was almost 19 percent.

This is an indication of the situation on the housing market. Politicians are trying to limit the consequences of the housing shortage with legislation that, for example, keeps rents in check and improves rent protection, but this makes student housing less lucrative. As a result, the supply seems to be declining: landlords are selling their properties. Certain exceptions for student housing are apparently not helping enough.

Previous warnings

The National Student Union (LSVb) warned about this problem two years ago. ‘All the alarm bells are ringing,’ said the then chairman. Landlords and estate agents also made this known.

The LSVb advocated rent subsidies for room tenants so that rents could rise. This was intended to ensure that student housing remained on the market. However, these rent subsidies were not implemented because politicians considered them too expensive.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Housing wants to encourage the return of lodging houses, for example by limiting the rent protection of their lodgers. When the property is sold, the landlord must be able to evict the tenant.

Building additional student housing is also an ambition, but this is at odds with the desire to freeze rents in the social sector. If rents are not allowed to rise, housing associations will have too little money for new construction.

Concerns about Delft

One city where the construction of new student housing has been slow for a long time is Delft. In April, an alliance of student interest groups called SOS wrote in an urgent letter (in Dutch) that new construction is lagging far behind the ambition. By 2031, the corporations must build 3,500 additional units, but even if you include the “soft plans” that are currently in place, Delft will only reach 1,800.

Added to this is the loss of rooms, as reported by NRC. In April, SOS calculated that this would lead to a loss of 1,500 to 3,000 existing student rooms in Delft. This number alarmed the national D66 party so much that it submitted parliamentary questions to Minister of Housing Mona Keijzer. In her response (in Dutch) on 1 July, she wrote that she found SOS’s signal worrying. Her department will enter into discussions with the students.

HOP, Bas Belleman/Delta, Saskia Bonger