Fewer homes created by conversion for fourth year running

In 2025, 6,400 homes were created by converting existing buildings such as offices and shops, 19% fewer than a year earlier, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports. It is the fourth year in a row that conversions have fallen. The research was done at the request of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Conversions made up 7% of all homes added in 2025, against 9% a year earlier. Most new homes still come from new construction: 69,000 in 2025, plus 12,000 other additions such as splitting homes. A first estimate shows almost 3,000 homes from conversions in the first half of 2026.

Private rental homes from conversion fell 36%, from 5,700 to 3,700. CBS says this possibly relates to the Wet betaalbare huur (affordable rent act), in force since July 2024, which makes private letting financially less attractive for landlords. Housing-corporation homes from conversion rose from 635 to 1,010, or 16% of conversions. Private rental homes are 58% and owner-occupied homes 26%.

Former offices supplied 1,700 homes, a little over a thousand fewer than in 2024. Just over a quarter of conversions were in former offices, against 35% a year earlier. Conversions in former shops rose slightly but stayed below the 2023 peak.

Rotterdam down 64%, Amsterdam doubles

Zuid-Holland had 1,285 conversions, 35% fewer than a year earlier but still the most of any province, ahead of Noord-Holland and Noord-Brabant. Rotterdam fell 64%, Gelderland by more than a third and Noord-Brabant by 30%.

Amsterdam doubled to 475 after a dip in 2024, but that is under half the 2023 number. Den Haag had 125 and Utrecht 45, both down. Among the ten municipalities with the most conversions, Schiedam had the highest share: 230 of its 363 added homes.