Landlords sold over 65,000 homes in 2025, of which six in 10 were bought by people planning to live in them themselves, according to new figures from the Kadaster land registry office.
The total supply of rental homes has fallen by 16,000 over the past two years, taking the percentage of private rental homes on the market down from 9.4% to 9%, the Kadaster said.
First-time buyers benefited most from the sell-off, which has been set in motion by higher taxes for landlords and tougher rent control rules. According to land registry figures, they paid an average of €124,000 less for an ex-rental property in one of the big four cities because former rental homes are relatively small and have a lower energy label.
“First-time buyers are benefiting but I am very concerned about the wider rental market,” Maastricht University professor Nils Kok told the Financieele Dagblad. “A large group of people cannot or do not want to buy, and if we look at population developments with an increase in single-person households, demand for mid-market and non-rent-controlled properties will remain high.”
Although the shift towards more owner-occupier property is a good thing, with an estimated 127,000 tenants looking to buy, institutional investors are adding fewer properties to the market, ING economist Sander Burgers told the paper.
“Institutional investors put their money into new properties, but to create more homes quickly, we need to make better use of the existing housing stock,” he said. “This is where you need small private investors, but these are the ones that are getting out.”
Landlords – both private and institutional – bought 27,000 homes last year, but much of this is down to investors buying from each other. Nor is it certain that these will be rented out in the future, the land registry office said.
Experts suggest the wave of sales will wind down in July, when the last of the two-year rental contracts expires. Two years ago, a ban on short-term contracts came into force and small private landlords have reduced their properties by roughly 40,000 units since then.
New government
The new government has said it wants to stimulate housing development and the investment climate, and is cutting the property transfer tax for investors from 8% to 7%. It has also said it wants to boost the affordable rental market, but has not yet published details of how this should happen.
The government’s chief housing adviser Francesco Veenstra told current affairs show Nieuwsuur on Wednesday night that the new administration should focus on splitting existing properties into smaller units to boost housing supply. This is currently subject to complex rules.
The new government has pledged to press ahead with 30 major development projects, of which 21 were already earmarked by the previous administration. While building new homes is of major importance, Veenstra said they are a long-term solution. People who currently need a place to live would benefit more from making better use of existing properties, he said.
