housing crisis in the Netherlands, where prices are soaring

Eindhoven, with its approximately 200,000 inhabitants, is a medium-sized city in the Netherlands. Here, real estate prices are exploding. On the 11th floor of a tower, Joppe van Veghel welcomes France Télévisions to his home. For a kitchen, a bedroom-office and a small living room, he pays, with his girlfriend, 1,145 euros per month. Soon to graduate in architecture and medicine, the couple hoped to buy their own home in 2023. Given the prices, this seems impossible to them. “It’s very unfair. All the previous generations were able to buy their house, but we, our generation (…), we know that it will be impossible”he laments.

In the Netherlands, prices have increased by an average of 15% in one year. In Amsterdam (Netherlands), a garage was notably put up for sale for 695,000 euros. Demonstrations were organized to denounce the soaring prices in the country. Two months ago, several large cities, including Eindhoven, took a radical decision: to prohibit the purchase to investors. Below 350,000 euros, properties are reserved for individuals who wish to live there. According to a buyer, the problem is also the “severe lack” of accommodation. A real estate agent, meanwhile, fears that without investors, the number of rental properties will drop, which would lead to higher prices.