The latest figures from housing platform Pararius show that for the first time in 6 years, the average national rental price of homes in the free sector has fallen. The average price per square meter now stands at €16.16 per month, which is 3.7% less than in the same quarter in 2019. Such a similar decline as now was last measured in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Delivery forms

The price of unfurnished rental housing fell 5.3 percent last quarter to €15.18 per square meter per month. For a bare rental home, new tenants paid €11.92 per square meter per month, 0.5 percent more than the same quarter of 2019. Furnished homes also decreased in price. With an average rent of €18.20, new tenants paid 7 percent less than in the same quarter a year earlier.

Developments in the five major cities

Developments in the Netherlands' five major cities (Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Utrecht) are often a harbinger for the rest of the country. After the crisis, housing prices in Amsterdam, for example, were the first to rise, followed by Rotterdam and The Hague. Only later did we also see rents in the free sector rise in the rest of the country. Now the same thing is happening the other way around. In Amsterdam, rental prices stagnated from the second quarter of 2019. In the rest of the Netherlands, this stagnation followed barely a year later (Q1 2020). Price declines were also observed first in Amsterdam and then followed at the national level.

Average rents in the free sector fell in eight of the 12 provinces. In Drenthe (-7.4%) North Holland (-6.3%), Groningen (-4.9%), Zeeland (-4.7%) and South Holland (-3.2%) prices fell by at least 3 percent. In Friesland (-2.6%), North Brabant (-2%) and Limburg (-1.9%) the price drop was slightly smaller.

Price trends by housing type

Apartment rents fell again in the fourth quarter of 2020. New tenants paid an average of €17.14 per square meter per month for an apartment, down 6.2 percent. Apartments are still by far the most expensive housing type to rent. For a single-family house, new tenants paid €12.36 per square meter per month (-1.8 percent). For a detached house, an average of €14.28 per square meter per month was paid. This is an increase of 3.9 percent.

More information? Click here for the full article on Pararius.

Source: Pararius.com