The pandemic caused factories to shut down and construction equipment- and transportation prices to increase. Experts predicted the demand for houses to diminish and the housing market to cool down, but the opposite occurred. Although it was a good effort, it only led to investors simply factoring these extra costs into the rents they charge for their properties.Īll in all, housing has been a problem since the destruction of entire cities in the second world war that only deteriorated over the past years, and the Covid-19 pandemic had another detrimental effect. On the first of January 2020, they increased the real estate transfer tax from 2% to 8% for private investors. The government does undertake (minor) actions to improve the circumstances. Real estate investors can afford more, which makes buying even easier. This is being reinforced by the historically low mortgage prices. Even people that do not have any experience in real estate start doing this now, because it is such a lucrative market. The third major aspect is one that we are all familiar with: private real estate investors that buy cheap houses, renovate, and rent them out for far too much money. Lastly, we now think we need a lot more space than our ancestors: we currently live on 65m 2 per person, compared to 10m 2 per person in 1900. Moreover, elderly continue living at home until a higher age than they used to, which is encouraged by the government. People get married later and divorce has become more and more standard practice. 1 in 5 people currently live alone, in comparison to 1 in 10 fifty years ago. The second aspect to the housing crisis is the change in living conditions and wishes that occurred over the past years. Lastly, population forecasts and projections are often incorrect we are with way more people than we initially thought. In addition, newly built houses have to be increasingly sustainable and therefore more expensive. There were plans to build around 150.000 new houses around Schiphol Airport, but these were cancelled due to noise pollution. Furthermore, there are much stricter building regulations, such as noise pollution and sustainability. Rutte and his cabinet introduced these measures to cover the budget deficit that arose during the crisis, but as a result, housing corporations built half as many social housing units. Moreover, housing corporations had to start paying corporate income tax, even though private landlords did not have to. Since housing corporations could not afford this themselves, it had to be added to the rent of their properties, translating to an addition of three months’ worth of rent per year per tenant. From then onwards, they had to pay approximately 1,7 billion euros to the state. In 2013, cabinet Rutte II introduced a tax for housing corporations, who are responsible for building affordable social rental properties. Another reason for the lack of houses built is the introduction of a landlord charge. As a result, remaining construction projects took much longer and became more costly. This difficult market caused construction workers (40%!) and companies to quit their jobs. Mortgage debts increased and the government further strengthened credit conditions hardly any houses were sold, and the housing prices continued to plummet. Many people lost their jobs and exports were disrupted, bringing the housing market to a screeching halt. Firstly, starting with the economic crisis of 2008, there simply were not enough houses built over the past years. There are roughly put three main aspects that explain the housing crisis. So how did the Netherlands get into this situation? Amidst this crisis, one would almost forget that adequate housing is a fundamental human right. It is even harder for international students as besides the financial means, they have to get through the ‘no international’ room offers to find a place to stay. The prices of houses for sale have been skyrocketing over the past two years and to rent you must either wait up to ten years for a social rental property or be willing to pay through the nose for a (often much too small) room or apartment. It has not been as difficult as it is today to find a place to live in the Netherlands since World War II.
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