Dutch Home Guide - a blog about the Dutch housing market

Introduction to Dutch Home Guide

On June 28, 2022

Hey everybody! My name is Bas and this is the Dutch Home Guide! The Dutch Home Guide will cover all the major problems that are at play in the Dutch housing market right now, and how this affects young adults. Also, we will discuss how you as a young adult can increase your chances of getting a house as a young adult, how you can save money on your household, where new construction projects will be developed, and much more! In this article, I will introduce myself to you and explain why I started the Dutch Home Guide.

Welcome to the blog!

Great to see that you are reading the very first blog! As previously mentioned in the preface, my name is Bas and I am 26 years old. My whole life I have lived in the town of Maassluis, near Rotterdam. Currently, I am studying commercial economics in Rotterdam and I just moved into my very first apartment a couple of months ago.

Moving to my new place was a hectic time. I had to move all my stuff and get myself a lot of new furniture from secondhand stores and IKEA. Besides that, I also had to arrange a lot of tax matters and close off contracts for various things like internet and electricity. Arranging all of this was pretty hard for me. To illustrate this: I forgot to pay some taxes and got reminded about that with a fine and friendly reminder in my mailbox some time later. Also, getting the apartment itself was not that easy.

Hello there!

How I got my social housing apartment

I managed to get my apartment through a housing corporation. Housing corporations are organizations that rent out or sell social housing. Want to learn more about this topic? Than read my blog about “Social housing and how to apply for it“.

You have to register for social housing in order to apply for their homes. The longer you are registered, the more waiting time you acquire. And, the more waiting time you have, the greater the chance that you will get a home. For example, five years ago I registered with the housing association Woonnet Rijnmond, a corporation that rents out social housing in the Rotterdam region. This is the corporation that assigned me my apartment.

The problems I faced with finding a house

After being registered for four years, I started looking for houses. To my surprise, I discovered that after four years I still could not apply for any house. I had built up too little waiting time to be a serious contester. Often more than 800 people applied for a house and then I always ended up around the 100^th place. This sounds good, but it wasn’t. Only people that end up in the top 10 have a serious chance on getting the house. So after four years of waiting I still had no chance of getting a house.

After five years my waiting time was still too little. But luckily, there are also priority rules, which give you bonus points on your waiting time. Thanks to these priority rules, I did have a chance on getting a house. For the apartment I am living in right now, they had the rules set up that you already had to live in Maassluis and that you had to be 27 years old or younger. These were both rules that I complied with. In this way, I got put at the top of the waiting list and got assigned the apartment.

The problems on the Dutch housing market

I was actually quite lucky that I only had to wait five years before I got myself a social renting home. The average waiting time for social housing in the Netherlands is currently more than seven years. The reason for this is that there is an extreme housing shortage. At the moment, there is approximately a shortage of 330.00 houses in the Netherlands. This not only applies to social housing but also to the private rental sector. The most important factors that led to this shortage are the financial crisis of 2008 and the nitrogen crisis that is unfolding right now.

As a result of this shortage, the selling prices as well as rent are skyrocketing right now. Fewer and fewer people can afford a house and are forced to continue living in their current residences. Also, because of this shortage, landlords are taking advantage of the situation and asking for a ridiculous amount of rent for their houses. For example, a landlord in Schiedam demanded €1200 per month from his tenants. In reality the apartment was only worth a rent of approximately €600 per month.

construction project of a neighborhood that came to a hold — Construction project of a neighborhood that came to a hold

What these problems mean for young adults

For young adults, the problems of not being able to get a house are even greater. I had to wait for five years before I was able to get a home as well. And even then, I was only able to do so with a stroke of luck since I qualified for the priority rules. What happens is that most young adults don’t have the budget to buy or rent a house in the private rental sector. What comes on top of that is that after students finish their studies, they are often left with a student debt. As a result students with a debt can get less mortgage, which makes buying a house even harder.

Like me, students can also try to get a house in the social housing sector because these housing prices are regulated by the government. But as I explained earlier, the waiting time for social housing is incredibly long. This long waiting time often results in students being already done with their studies and are working full-time. When this happens, they often earn to much money to be eligible for social housing.

At the end of the day, students are the biggest victims of the housing shortage. They barely have options to buy or rent a house. This results in that they are stuck in their student homes or are forced to live with their parent(s) for many more years before they can move out.

studios to accommodate students — Studios to accommodate students

Dutch Home Guide is here to help!

Young adults are therefore the biggest victims of the housing shortage. The housing market is already very complex in itself and now we also have to deal with this difficult problem. Because this problem really affects me and I have experienced how difficult it can be to get a house, I would like to use my experience to help other young adults find a house as well. Therefore, I decided to create Dutch Home Guide to help you out with this problem!

From now on, new stories will be posted regularly on this blog. Most blogposts will go about the housing market. But, for example, also about how you can save money on your household. The first blog “Types of housing in the Netherlands” is already online. Read it now and find out more about what options you have to start living on your own.

Social housing and how to apply for it

By Bas de Ruijter

On June 30, 2022

In Financial aspects

In the Netherlands, a lot of people make use of social housing. Due to high house prices in the Netherlands, social rental homes are the only option for affordable housing. In this article, we will explain this type of housing in more detail. we are going to discuss what social housing is, how to apply for it, and the pros and cons of this type of housing. After reading this article, you will have find out if this type of housing is something for you.

What are social rental houses?

The first housing type on this blog that we are going to discuss is social rental housing. As previously mentioned in the blog “introduction to Dutch Home Guide”, rents for social housing are regulated by the government. They determine what the maximum monthly rent can. The maximum rent increases by a few percent per year. For the year 2022, the maximum rent has been set at €763.47 basic rent. Additional costs such as service costs may be added to this. An overview of the price increases over the last couple of years is displayed in the image down below.

An overview of price increases for social housing over the last couple of years — source: Het Juridisch Loket

The fact that the maximum rent for social housing has been set at €763.47 does not automatically mean that every social rental home costs this amount. This amount can also be much lower. To ensure that there is sufficient social housing, housing corporations have been set up. A housing corporation is an organization that focuses on building, renting out, and maintaining homes. These homes have affordable rent and are intended for people with a low income. They are obliged to assess the quality of their houses by using a so-called points system. Based on how many points a house scores, it is determined what the final rent will be. In this way, rents can fluctuate between €400 and €763,47. You can look into this on the offer page of Woonnet Rijnmond.

houses with for rent signs in a dutch street — Houses with “te huur” signs in a Dutch street

How to apply for social housing

To be eligible for social housing, you cannot earn too much money. The income set by the government is a maximum annual salary of €40,765 for a single-person household. For a multi-person household, this is €45,014. Do you earn more than this in a year? Then you are not eligible for social housing.

However, it is allowed for housing associations to also rent out homes to people with a higher income. According to the law, they are free to decide on 15% of the houses to which they offer them to. For example, WoningNet Utrecht also rents out to people with a middle income of up to €52,147.

If you meet the conditions, you are eligible for social housing. You can then register with one of the housing corporations in the Netherlands. Five years ago, I registered myself at Woonnet Rijnmond. This is a housing corporation for the Rotterdam region. When you have built up sufficient waiting time, you can get a social rental home. How this exactly works, I have discussed in my previous blog.

social housing apartments — Apartments in the Rotterdam region

The benefits

The advantage of social housing is that you can rent a house for a reasonably low price. Also, the housing corporation is responsible for the maintenance of the house. So, is there something broken? Then they are the ones responsible to fix it. You are also protected against high rent increases. It is regulated by the government what the maximum increase of the rent can be. For the 1^st of July 2022, it is determined that the rent can increase by a maximum of 2,3% on the original renting price.

In the free sector, a topic that we are going to discuss in a future article, the maximum allowed increase is much higher. They are allowed to increase the renting prices by a maximum of 3,3%. Often landlords opt to increase their prices at the maximum rate. Luckily, with social housing, this is often not the case. In my personal situation, my housing corporation Maasdelta was allowed to increase the price of my house by 2,3%. But they opt to only increase it by 1%. Which only increases my rent by approximately €6.

Social housing apartment building — Another apartment building in the Rotterdam region

The downsides of social housing

The disadvantage of social housing is that the waiting times are very long before you can get one. The average waiting time in the Netherlands is now more than seven years. As a result, it is very difficult for young adults to obtain a home in this housing sector. Because, when they have finished their education, they usually only gathered four or five years of waiting time. Which is not enough. This is because when they start working full-time, they often earn too much and are therefore no longer eligible for social housing.

Is social housing something for you?

Social housing is a great form of affordable housing. It is regulated by the government and social housing corporations. This gives tenants a lot of security. The only downside is that you have to wait many years before you can apply for a house. Unfortunately, not everybody can wait that long and is therefore forced to move into a way too expensive and often very little apartment in the private sector. Do you want to find out more about housing in the Netherlands? Then read more about the other “types of housing in the Netherlands” in my previous blog post

Types of housing in the Netherlands

By Bas de Ruijter

On June 29, 2022

In Housing

In the Netherlands, there are different types of housing options. You can rent or buy a house. But whether you have a home in the private or social sector also makes a big difference to your living situation. In addition, each type of housing works slightly different with how you can get it. In this article, we will set apart all the types of housing in the Netherlands. After reading this blog post, you will know exactly which options you have when you are going to start living on your own.

Private sector rental houses

In the Netherlands, we have the so-called private and social sectors. The private sector is housing that is mostly accommodated by private companies. Also, individuals that own one or several houses can rent out their accommodations in this sector. Officially you are renting a private sector house when the rent is higher than €763,47.

Social housing corporations sometimes also rent out houses that have a rent higher than €763,47. This is because some of their properties are getting more worth over time due to renovation, the increase in value of the real estate, or because the area where the house is located is getting popular. Woonnet Rijnmond for example rents out a house in downtown Rotterdam with a rent of €1.530 a month. You can see an image of this house below.

Private sector rental house in downtown rotterdam — Source: Woonnet Rijnmond

So, you have private companies and individuals that rent out private sector housing. But housing corporations that usually rent out social housing, sometimes also rent out private sector housing. Confusing right? That is why I wrote this article to clear things up for you.

The biggest pro of renting a house in the private housing sector is that the waiting times are not that long. Often you can apply for houses right away and within a couple of weeks, you can move into your new house. For example, a friend of mine recently moved in with his girlfriend. They applied for three houses and within one month they got the home where they now live together.

A very big con of private housing is that there is no limit on how much rent a landlord can ask for its property. In this way, prices for rent in the private sector can get very high. That is also what is happening right now with the shortage of homes on the housing market. Another big con of renting in the private sector is that you are excluded from the rent allowance. More about this later in this blog.

Private sector houses in the neighborhood of Wilgenrijk in Maassluis

Private sector owner-occupied houses

Owner-occupied houses are homes that you as an individual can buy and have in your possession. This type of housing is commonly sold in the private sector, but every now and then also in the social housing sector. when you want to buy or sell a house, you can do this through a real estate agent. In Maassluis we got the agency of Dolphijn NVM Makelaardij that helps people out with this.

Agencies like Dolphijn NVM Makelaardij promote houses online from people wo want to sell their houses. In the Netherlands, Funda is the biggest platform where real estate agencies can place advertisements of the houses that they are selling.

A pro of buying a house is that you slowly pay off your mortgage. This indeed costs many years. But when you do, the property is entirely yours and you will have a large equity at your disposal. A big con of buying a house is that you are carrying all the risk. For example, when after 20 years your fixed-rate period is coming to an end and the interest rates have increased, then you suddenly have to pay a lot more money to your bank. Also, when your home gets damaged or needs maintenance, you are the one that has to pay up for all the expenses.

Owner-occupied houses in the private sector

New constructed houses

Newly constructed houses are broadly the same as owner-occupied houses. The difference is that you buy newly constructed homes before, or when they are being constructed. The new homes are built by contractors. The projects are commissioned by housing corporations and project developers. Another big difference is that you buy newly constructed houses “free by name”. This means that you are the first one that buys the house, and therefore do not have to buy it from a previous owner. Because of this, you don’t have to pay any notary fees. This is because there is no transfer between an owner and a buyer. There are also some other exceptions with newly constructed homes. You can read all about it on this page of notaris.nl.

As for the pros and cons. Those are the same as with owner-occupied houses. An important con that comes as an exception on newly constructed houses is that the moment from buying, till finally moving into your new house, can take a couple of yours. The real building process only takes one year approximately. But the additional matters can also take a lot of time. For example, I have a friend who bought a new house three years ago but still doesn’t live there because they are still not finished with construction.

new development of an apartment building in Maassluis — New development of an apartment building in Maassluis

Social housing rental homes

As mentioned earlier in this article, we have private and social housing in the Netherlands. The social sector is housing that is accommodated by social housing corporations. Officially you are renting a social sector house when the rent is lower than €763,47. Social housing is meant for people with a low income. Therefore, you cannot apply for social housing when your income is too high. How this exactly works, you can read in the blog post “social housing and how to apply for it”.

A very important feature of social housing is that it is regulated by the government. In this way, housing corporations are limited with how much rent they can ask from their tenants and you are paying a fair price for your social renting home. In the private sector, there is no such kind of regulation. Therefore, landlords can ask for very high rental prices for their properties.

social rental homes got two important pros. The first one is that you can rent a house or apartment for relatively cheap. The second one is that you can also apply for a rent allowance. This is an allowance for people with a low income. How much rent allowance you receive depends on your income. This comes in handy for young adults who are still studying (like in my case). Students cannot work full-time because of their studies and therefore can’t earn that much. Rent allowance can come in handy on such occasions. But, there is a maximum of how much you can get. You must always pay a minimum part of your rent yourself. The baseline of this minimum part is set at €235.

A major con of social rented homes is that there is a tremendous shortage of them at the moment. How much exactly, I have discussed in my previous blog. This shortage results in very long waiting times. Also, the bar for when you are not eligible anymore for social housing is quite low for highly educated young adults.

social housing rental homes in Maassluis — Social housing rental homes in Maassluis

Social housing owner-occupied homes

As I previously mentioned, in the social housing sector they also sometimes sell houses. The thought behind this is that the government also wants to give people with a lower income the chance of getting an owner-occupied home. In this way, they also have the opportunity to build up their equity. Because these kinds of properties are subsidized by the government, they sell way lower than in the private sector. for example, a house in the private sector now cost around €428.000. While the maximum price for a house in the social sector is set at €325.000.

graf of avarage selling price owner occupied houses in the netherlands — Source: De Volkskrant

A pro of this type of housing is that it gives you a lot of security. For example, when you want to sell the house again, the social housing corporation will buy it back from you. Also, you share the losses and profits on the house with the corporation. When for example, the house will drop in value and you have to sell the house with a loss of €50.000, then the corporation will pay €25.000 to compensate you for this loss. Unfortunately, this also works the other way around. Which makes it a little downside in that particular situation.

A con of owner-occupied homes is that, just like with other social housing, there is way too less of it. A major factor in how this came to be is that nowadays it simply too expensive for social housing corporations to build this type of housing.

New social housing development in maassluis — New social housing development in Maassluis

Anti-squad & temporary rent

Buildings often stay empty for several months, and sometimes even years, before they get demolished. This is because building projects sometimes get delayed. Nowadays this happens often because of the nitrogen crisis. In between times that a building stays empty and the moment it gets demolished, housing corporations and municipalities want to prevent that empty buildings are getting squatted. Therefore Anti-squad and temporary rent were invented as housing types.

To motivate people to live in these kinds of houses, they can rent them for a really low price. For example, you can rent a house of 56 m²in Rotterdam for just €192 a month. Just like for social housing there are also platforms for anti-squad and temporary rent. A nationwide platform for this is Villex.

Anti-squad and temporary rent are almost the same types of housing. The difference between the two is that with temporary housing you are guaranteed that you can live in the house for at least six months. Also, when you have to leave the property again, you have at least three months to do so. With anti-squad housing, you don’t have the guarantee that you can live somewhere for a certain period of time. They can kick you out of the house whenever they want to. The only regulation there is is that you have a cancellation period of 28 days before you have to move out.

apartment building in maassluis for temporary rent — Temporary rent Maassluis

So, the pro of anti-squad and temporary rent is that you can live in an apartment for really cheap. Therefore, for students who want to live on their own, or with friends this is a really great opportunity. The big downside of this type of housing is that you can’t really settle in properly because the change is very big that after half a year you have to move out again.

Also, what is currently at play with the war in Ukraine, is that a lot of Ukrainian refugees are now accommodated in Anti-squad and temporary renting homes. For example, we have a building in Maassluis called “De Vliet”. This building was allocated as an anti-squad apartment. But, a couple of months ago they decided to accommodate Ukrainians in De Vliet. This is happening all over the country and as a result, a lot of anti-squad and temporary renting homes are no longer available anymore for the public to rent. Unfortunately, this makes it yet again a little bit harder for young adults to get a house.

anti-squad apartment building de vliet in maassluis — Anti-squad apartment building De Vliet in Maassluis

Which type of housing suits you the best?

As you now know some housing types are very expensive, but luckily there are also still affordable options left. Which housing type suits you the best really relies on your financial situation and in which phase of your life you are currently in. In upcoming blog posts, we are going to delve deeper into every housing type separately. The first article about “social housing and how to apply for it” is already uploaded on the blog. Read it now to find out more about this housing type.