Room shortage drops but trend is only temporary

Since 2015, when the Dutch government did away with a monthly allowance for university students, the number of students not living with their parents dropped from 53 to 44 percent. Almost fifty percent of those still living with their parents say that room rental prices are their main reason for not moving out, according to the latest National Student Housing Monitor (in Dutch, Ed.). But now that the government has made a U-turn and decided to reinstate the allowance as of September, the demand for student rooms is expected to rise rapidly, warns Kences, the umbrella organisation for social student housing.

Since last year, the shortage of student rooms has dropped from 27,000 to 23,700 but, by 2030, it should anywhere between 39,700 and 56,800. Reason enough to keep on building houses, in Kences' view.

Internationals
The number of students not living with their parents is higher compared to 2015-2016. That's because there are a lot more international students in the Netherlands and they are all renting their own place. From the 754,500 higher education students in the Netherlands (a number that includes those coming from abroad), about 400,000 do not live with their parents. 

The housing shortage is particularly bad in Amsterdam, Delft, Eindhoven, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Den Bosch, Utrecht and Zwolle.