Tenants paid an average of 3 percent to purchase their home in July compared to last year. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, which published these figures, this is the strongest increase since 2014. There is a difference between rents in the social sector and the private sector: the price of social rented housing is 2.6 percent higher than that of housing. in the free sector by 3.8 percent.

Rents rose faster in the province of North Holland. Among the big four cities, Amsterdam led the way, with an increase of 3.6 percent. The lowest rent increases were measured in Friesland and Drenthe.

Both social sector homeowners and private sector homeowners abide by the rules for maximum rent increases. For example, rents for residents in the free sector were allowed to increase by a maximum of 3.3 percent this year. This always happens on July 1.

If a house changes tenants in the meantime, the landlord may also implement a rent increase. According to Statistics Netherlands, the rent increase in such a change of population was the largest in the past year: homes that changed tenants between July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2022 had an average rent of 9.8 percent higher than last year.

For residents of social housing, the “record” increase in rent could reach a maximum of 2.3% this year. The fact that rents in the social sector rose slightly more than average has to do with the increase in income-related rents implemented by some housing associations this year.

This means that they can ask middle-income renters a maximum of 50 euros and high-income renters a maximum of 100 euros. Last year, rents were not increased in the social housing market due to Corona.

Why are social housing waiting lists long? NOS op 3 made this video on this topic last year: