The Netherlands is losing private rental homes
After years of growth, the number of homes let by private landlords has fallen two years running. Landlords are selling, mostly to people who will live in the home.
Start with the numbers1,160,390 private rental homes on 1 January 2026, 25,310 fewer than at the peak in 2024
CBS counts every home let by a landlord that is not a housing corporation: now 13.9% of all Dutch homes. The number grew for years, peaked in 2024 and has fallen twice since, after the rule changes marked on the chart.
What this does not mean: fewer homes overall. Most homes that leave the rental market are sold to people who then live in them.
Homes rented out by private landlords
homes owned by landlords other than housing corporations, 1 January, 2015 to 2026
- January 2021 transfer tax for investors up from 2% to 8%
- May 2022 WOZ value capped in the rent points system
- January 2023 transfer tax for investors 10.4%
- July 2024 Affordable Rent Act: maximum rents for most homes
CBS, 2015 to 2026nlnow.nl
Private individuals own 59,785 fewer rental homes than in 2023, a fall of 10.8%
Small landlords are leaving. Between 2024 and 2026, homes let by people who own a single rental home fell from 225,255 to 204,095, and the number of individual landlords fell by 36,160. Companies and funds hold more than in 2021, but not enough to fill the gap.
Who owns the private rental homes
homes by type of owner, 1 January, 2021 to 2026, same scale; companies are limited companies (BV, NV), other owners are foundations and funds
CBS, 2021 to 2026nlnow.nl
Investors sold 27,484 more homes to owner-occupiers than they bought from them in 2025, the most since at least 2016
Kadaster, the land registry, tracks every home investors buy and sell. In 2025 they sold 31,160 homes to people moving in and bought 3,676 from them. Since 2022 Amsterdam and other cities have banned buying cheaper existing homes to let (opkoopbescherming), so a sold flat rarely goes back to a landlord.
What this does not mean: the whole market. Kadaster counts only investors with two or more homes.
Investors selling to people who live in the home
homes investors sold to owner-occupiers, minus homes they bought from them, per year, 2016 to 2025
Kadaster, 2016 to 2025nlnow.nl
14 of the 18 largest rental cities lost private rental homes; The Hague lost the most, −7.1%
Amsterdam has the most private rental homes, 144,690 or 29.3% of all its homes, and lost 1.8% of them since 2024. Across the country 208 of 342 municipalities lost private rentals.
Private rental homes in the largest rental cities
change from 1 January 2024 to 1 January 2026, in %, the 18 municipalities with 10,000 or more
CBS, 2024 and 2026nlnow.nl
Private rental homes in your municipality
CBS, homes owned by landlords other than housing corporations, 1 January 2024 and 2026
| Municipality | 2024 | 2026 | Change | Share of all homes, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hague | 75,745 | 70,330 | −7.1% | 25.6% |
| Breda | 14,845 | 13,835 | −6.8% | 15.5% |
| Haarlem | 15,015 | 14,065 | −6.3% | 17.5% |
| Arnhem | 18,390 | 17,390 | −5.4% | 21.2% |
| Delft | 11,630 | 11,090 | −4.6% | 20.2% |
| Den Bosch ('s-Hertogenbosch) | 11,020 | 10,575 | −4.0% | 13.6% |
| Nijmegen | 15,570 | 14,990 | −3.7% | 16.9% |
| Enschede | 12,295 | 11,945 | −2.8% | 15.2% |
| Groningen | 34,955 | 34,025 | −2.7% | 27.0% |
| Utrecht | 42,030 | 41,030 | −2.4% | 23.9% |
| Rotterdam | 71,965 | 70,605 | −1.9% | 21.4% |
| Amsterdam | 147,280 | 144,690 | −1.8% | 29.3% |
| Maastricht | 17,970 | 17,660 | −1.7% | 26.5% |
| Leeuwarden | 14,130 | 14,045 | −0.6% | 21.2% |
| Tilburg | 19,810 | 19,855 | +0.2% | 18.4% |
| Almere | 10,100 | 10,200 | +1.0% | 10.7% |
| Eindhoven | 24,060 | 24,685 | +2.6% | 20.1% |
| Leiden | 17,480 | 17,930 | +2.6% | 27.3% |
The same 45 m² Amsterdam flat returned 1.9% a year under the 2021 rules; under today’s it returns 0.0%
One flat at today’s price, two rulebooks. Under the 2021 rules it scored 145 points, enough for a free-market rent of €1,285 a month. Today it scores 122 and may charge at most €789 a month, while box 3 wealth tax went from €2,923 to €5,579 a year. Selling and saving the money pays more; with a loan, letting is worse still (investor mortgages went from 2.41% to 5.67%).
What this does not mean: that every landlord loses money. Someone who bought years ago for less earns more, and tenants from before July 2024 keep their rent.
What a landlord keeps from one flat
an Amsterdam flat bought today without a loan, the rules of July 2021 against those of 2026
| 2021 rules | 2026 rules | |
|---|---|---|
| Points in the rent system | 145 | 122 |
| Sector | free market | maximum rent |
| Rent a month | €1,285 | €789 |
| Income after costs, a year | €10,912 | €5,480 |
| Box 3 tax, a year | €2,923 | €5,579 |
| Left over, a year | €7,989 | −€100 |
| Return on the money put in | 1.9% | 0.0% |
Sold instead: about €390,016 after costs, 1.5% a year in savings after box 3.
Prices and assumptions
Price €8,799 and WOZ value (official municipal valuation) €6,378 per m², market rent €28.56 per m², transfer tax 8%. Our assumptions: 3% empty, 6% management, €70 per m² a year for service charges, upkeep and insurance, €3,500 buying costs. Box 3 as enacted, before the tax-free allowance: 4.501% deemed return and 31% tax in 2021, 6% and 36% in 2026. Price and WOZ value are held at today’s level, so only the rules change.
NLNOW calculation; rent tables, CBS, NVM, Belastingdienstnlnow.nl
13,517 free-sector homes were listed for rent in Q3 2026, against 21,054 in Q2 2023
Listings fell in early 2024 and have not recovered; part of the fall is a new way of counting. Each listing draws fewer replies than a year ago (23 against 40). New tenants pay 4.4% more per square metre (€20.92, and €28.56 in Amsterdam), and rents on existing free-sector contracts rose 4.5% in 2026.
What this does not mean: that a home is easier to find. This is the free sector on one portal only.
Free-sector homes offered for rent
new listings per quarter on the largest rental portal, Q2 2023 to Q3 2026
Pararius Huurmonitornlnow.nl
A social rental home in the Amsterdam region takes 10.7 years of waiting on average
Renters who cannot pay free-sector rents wait for a home from a housing corporation. Each region measures the wait its own way, so the figures cannot be ranked.
| Region | What is measured | Figure | Earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam region | Average time from registration to a home, 2024 | 10.7 years | 12.1 years in 2023 |
| The Hague region (Haaglanden) | Median waiting time, 2025 | 85 months, about 7.1 years | 72 months in 2020 |
| Rotterdam region | Median registration time of people who found a home, lotteries included, 2025 | 43 months, about 3.6 years | 25 months in 2020 |
| Utrecht region | Average registration time when offered a home, 2024 | 12.0 years for first-time renters, 12.3 for people moving on |
The rules that changed for landlords
- Transfer tax on a home the buyer will not live in rises from 2% to 8%.
- A legal cap on yearly rent rises in the free sector.
- Municipalities may ban buying cheaper existing homes to let (opkoopbescherming). Amsterdam starts on 1 April 2022.
- The WOZ value may count for at most 33% of a home’s points in the rent points system.
- Transfer tax for investors rises to 10.4%.
- Good Landlordship Act: rules on deposits, conduct and local licences.
- Box 3 tax on savings and investments, which includes a privately let home, rises to 36%.
- Affordable Rent Act: a maximum rent for homes up to 186 points, €1,228.07 a month in 2026. The Permanent Rental Contracts Act ends most fixed-term leases.
- Transfer tax for investors falls back to 8%.
- Box 3 to tax actual returns, with gains on property taxed when it is sold.
What we left out, and how we counted
Two CBS tables, joined in 2021
- Up to 2020 the line uses CBS’s older table of the housing stock by owner, which was discontinued in 2026; from 2021 it uses the new table, which splits private landlords into individuals, companies and other organisations.
- The two tables differ slightly where they overlap, because the new one rounds to fives and includes later revisions. For 1 January 2021 the old table gives 1,100,042 and the new one 1,096,045.
- Part of the rise from 2018 to 2020 comes from CBS assigning homes with an unknown owner, not from new rentals.
What is not measured yet
- There is no official count of mid-rent homes since the Affordable Rent Act. The government plans to evaluate the law in 2027.
- Portal figures cover the homes listed on one portal, not every letting.
Sources
- CBS, housing stock by owner (82900NED, discontinued)
- CBS, housing stock by owner type (86286NED)
- CBS (86286NED)
- CBS, rental homes by landlord portfolio (86287NED)
- CBS, owners of rental homes (86288NED)
- CBS, rent increases by type of rental (83163NED)
- Kadaster, investors on the housing market, 4th quarter 2025 (26 February 2026), figure 2
- Regio Amsterdam, Jaarrapportage woonruimteverdeling 2024
- Sociale Verhuurders Haaglanden, Jaarverslag 2025
- Maaskoepel, Monitor woonruimtebemiddeling regio Rotterdam 2025
- RWU, Regionale Corporatiemonitor 2025
- Pararius, Huurmonitor
- NVM, market overview gemeente Amsterdam, 2nd quarter 2026
- Besluit huurprijzen woonruimte, Bijlage I (July 2021)
- Besluit huurprijzen woonruimte, Bijlage I (2026)
- Rijksoverheid, maximum rents 1 January 2026
- Belastingdienst, overdrachtsbelasting
- Belastingdienst, box 3 2021
- Belastingdienst, box 3 2026
- Staatsblad 2022, 119
- Besluit huurprijzen woonruimte (2026)
- Belastingdienst, box 3 2024
- Staatscourant 2021, 22762, maximum rents
- Staatscourant 2021, 22762
- CBS, rents 2021
- Staatscourant 2025, 43660, WOZ value per m2 by COROP area
- Uitvoeringsbesluit inkomstenbelasting 2001, art. 17a (2014-2022 table)
- Uitvoeringsbesluit inkomstenbelasting 2001, art. 17a (from 2023)
- NIBC, investor mortgage rates 19 November 2021
- NIBC, investor mortgage rates 19 June 2026
Figures as of November 2026.