Amsterdam tops list for student homes sold by private owners
Last year, more than 2,000 student rooms disappeared from the market in Amsterdam as private owners sold their homes, according to figures from Kences. That’s twice as many as the second city on the list, Rotterdam, where just over 1,000 rooms were sold.
The housing shortage in Amsterdam was already at least 3,600 rooms at the start of the academic year, according to figures from student housing organization Kences. The shortage is increasing because private homeowners are selling their properties. Due to new regulations, renting out a property is no longer financially attractive.
Across the Netherlands, the number of available private student rooms fell by 17,800. In Amsterdam, 2,080 rooms were sold, in Rotterdam 1,025 rooms, and in Utrecht 810 rooms. According to Kences, these sales figures are about one and a half times higher than last year.
Pressure on Utrecht
As a result, many students from Amsterdam are moving to Utrecht. This has made Utrecht the city with the greatest pressure on the student housing market. “The shortage of student housing has never been so severe,” Kences stated in a press release.
Already in September, Kences’ figures showed that many students had given up searching for a room. Eight years ago, 59 percent of students wanted to live in student housing; now, that number has dropped to less than half, 49 percent.
