The main reason is the tightening of rental regulations, including the new Affordable Rental Act. As Prian notes, private landlords have started to put their properties up for sale en masse. They prefer to make a profit now rather than adjust to the new strict restrictions on rental costs.
The withdrawal of investors from the rental market has given young homebuyers a chance. Apartments, which used to be rented out for years, cost on average 130 thousand euros cheaper than other real estate on the market. The average price tag for such properties amounted to about 384 thousand euros. Thus, young people have gained access to affordable housing
Price growth in Amsterdam has slowed down
The active sale of investor apartments has slowed down price growth in major cities. In Amsterdam, where the concentration of landlords was the highest, the cost of housing for the year rose by only 3.6%. At the same time, in quiet provinces like Drenthe, where there are almost no investors, prices jumped by 11%. Experts call it a domino effect: when prices in the metropolitan areas reach their limit, demand spills over to the periphery, causing a sharp rise in prices.
Despite the slowdown in price growth in megacities, 2025 has been a period of incredible numbers for the country. The last three months of the year broke all records for the number of transactions – over 67,000 properties were sold in one quarter. The total average price of a house in the Netherlands reached the bar of 480 thousand, and the number of transactions with expensive real estate increased by almost a third. The market is trying to balance demand with new legislation.
