Dutch housing minister Mona Keijzer has finalised a list of 20 locations where housing construction can be accelerated, with another four under review, in an effort to meet the target of 100,000 new homes a year.

At least 2,500 homes will be built at each of the breakthrough sites, and five of them are expected to have a construction agreement in place before the end of the year. Construction must begin on all 24 locations by 2030 at the latest, the minister told MPs in a briefing.

The sites, the ministry said, are expected to deliver around 150,000 new homes in total. Most are located in Noord- and Zuid-Holland, Brabant and Flevoland.

Housing summit

The new approach is part of the agreement made at last December’s housing summit between national and local government, housing associations and the private sector.

That meeting aimed to speed up building by improving cooperation, cutting planning procedures and streamlining decision-making. The 24 selected locations are seen as having the greatest potential to move quickly under this strategy.

“By designating these breakthrough locations, we are putting the housing summit agreement into action,” the minister said. “Both the private sector and the government agree that we need to build faster to help people in need of a home.”

NEPROM support

The agreement shows developers “truly want to accelerate the process,” said Ronald Huikeshoven, chairman of developers’ lobby group NEPROM. “Now it’s a matter of matching the pace of planning procedures and decision-making.”

The challenges vary from site to site, hence the tailor-made approach for each location. However, in difficult cases, the government may use powers under the Environmental Planning Act to keep projects on track, the minister said.

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Holland Metropole member Bouwinvest plans to invest €1 billion in housing in the Netherlands over the coming years to increase the supply of affordable and sustainable homes.

“We are able to do this thanks to our shareholders, the Dutch pension funds,” says Paul van Stiphout, Fund Manager Dutch Residential Investments. “Capital can be fickle, but a stable, high-value shareholder base allows us to plan for the future.”

Shareholders seek a return on investment of 5.5% to 7% by developing sustainable homes in the mid-market sector and just above, Paul says. “We can improve affordability in the long term by increasing housing supply. We will also sell older properties to fund new construction. We’ve agreed at least 50% of our capital will go to new builds, ensuring growth in the total housing stock.”

One million new homes

However, additional capital is needed to fully address the housing shortage in the Netherlands. The government aims to build one million new homes, an effort requiring around €400 billion in investment.

“This is significantly beyond our capacity alone,” Paul says. “Dutch pension funds have already heavily invested in the market. To meet the target, new capital must come from foreign investors, including pension funds in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland.”

The Dutch housing market has attracted foreign investors due to its transparency and maturity. Public-private partnerships are common, and institutional investors play a crucial role. However, competition from other European markets facing similar shortages presents a challenge in securing foreign capital.

European problem

“Our tight housing market is a European phenomenon and we are competing with European markets with cities like London, Berlin and Madrid,” Paul points out. “If these markets have beter investment conditions than we have, then the capital is more likely to move there.”

Housing minister Mona Keijzer has committed to reducing bureaucratic hurdles and planning requirements to speed up construction. She has also allocated €2.5 billion to infrastructure improvements, flood risk management, and expanding electricity grid capacity.

In addition, the transfer tax on residential property sales, currently 10.4%, will be reduced to 8% in 2026 to encourage investment.

“We call for a stable, stimulating long-term investment strategy and a competitive tax regime,” Paul says. “We must have the equal conditions for all investors, domestic and foreign. We need capital, and international players must feel welcome. The government must enhance the investment climate to make this possible.”

In total 82,000 homes were added to the Dutch housing stock last year, including new build, repurposing old buildings and subdividing existing units, according to new Dutch housing ministry figures.

The total is below the government target of 100,000 new homes a year and the dip is likely to continue in 2025, housing minister Mona Keijzer said. However, from 2026, when government measures begin to take effect, production will grow and from 2027, the target will be met, the minister said.

According to housing ministry statistics, plans for 1,021,000 new homes have now been drawn up.

Slashing red tape

“The measures we are now implementing will bear fruit in a couple of years,” the minister said. “But every step forward is an advance. Our main focus is to remove obstacles to new construction projections, such as local authority red tape, and make better use of existing buildings.”

In December the minister hosted a housing summit with developers, investors, construction firms, local and regional governments, and housing corporations who all signed an agreement aimed at speeding up the development of new homes.

Developers’ organisation Neprom was among the signatories of the deal. “The time for sitting back and waiting for problems to resolve themselves is over,” said Neprom chairman Ronald Huikeshoven. “We have all made difficult decisions to meet each other halfway and look at how things can be done.”

Affordable housing pledge

The signatories to the deal have committed to ensuring that two-thirds of all new developments at the regional level will be “affordable,” and that, in time, 30% of the new properties will be social housing, with rent caps and income requirements for tenants.

This marks a shift from the previous government’s emphasis on ensuring affordable housing in every project. The government has also pledged additional funding to cover the immediate costs of expanding the social housing supply, provided that local councils contribute 50% of the funding. This may well prove a stumbling block, given central government is planning to cut local authority funding.

At the same time, minister Keijzer acknowledged that uncertainties remain around infrastructure issues that need to be addressed, including electricity grid congestion, nitrogen emissions, green spaces in and around cities, and flood risks. She has set aside €2.5 billion to help ease these problems.

Standardisation and less red tape

The signatories have also agreed to standardise rules and regulations, meaning that local councils can no longer impose their own rules on top of those set by the national government. The government itself will no longer introduce regulations that go beyond those agreed at the EU level – a decision which led the minister to earlier tear up the requirement that all new property includes bat and bird boxes.

However, developers are still concerned about the challenges of delivering enough affordable housing and say the financial coverage remains uncertain. “We hope that the agreements made… will provide enough leverage for our members to invest in housing construction in a way that makes economic sense,” Huikeshoven, who also chairs developer AM, said.

Holland Metropole members had earlier expressed concerns about the investment climate and the challenge they face to attract capital to invest in affordable housing.

The Holland Metropole region is continuing to excel in terms of connectivity and infrastructure, according to the latest research by The Business of Cities.

Air passengers are a first visible sign of how special the region is and the three main Holland Metropole airports welcoming nearly 80 million passengers in 2018. This put the region ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore, and just behind the San Francisco region, the report said.

Passenger numbers have grown faster than in other regions with a year-on-year growth of just above 4% and, the researchers say, among regions of fewer than 10 million people, Holland Metropole may become the world’s leading aviation hub in the next decade.

The region is also an important cargo hub but, the researchers say, its super- connectedness stands out most of all in its internal connectivity. ‘Its polycentric character means the region offers the unique ability to connect multiple large cities directly by rail. Other regions, by contrast, have inherited a pattern of growth around a single centre which has reduced access to jobs and other key urban assets,’ the report said.

The region boasts an average travel time between the five centres of just over 50 minutes (second only to Greater Boston) and an average speed of around 85km/h (third only to Munich Metro and the London region).

Holland Metropole’s special connectivity is also reflected in the fact that it is the only region among its peers to provide direct rail travel between all its major centres, making living in Rotterdam, working in Amsterdam and going out to the theatre in Utrecht a realistic option.

At the same time, Holland Metropole’s digital infrastructure platform remains very strong by global standards. Having a strong digital infrastructure boosts digital workforce skills, internet usage and access to smart services, so it is unsurprising, the report notes, that Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and The Hague all recently ranked in the top 20 cities in Europe for the number of people working in jobs in the ‘app economy’.

Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district is to get more homes, offices and even a cinema in a new project on a brownfield side between the A10 ring road and the sports centre. De Puls, a development by Holland Metropole partner VORM, will add 56,000 square metres of space to Zuidas when completed in 2023.

‘Zuidas is becoming an increasingly lively city district,’ says Zuidas director David van Traa. ‘This innovative building is future proof and, thanks to all the facilities which will be open to the public, a big plus for the district as a whole.’

The building itself will generate its own electricity thanks to solar panels on the roof and the façade, and will be completely energy neutral. The complex is also built around the maximum use of public transport, bikes and walking. The car park will only be accessible to electric, shared vehicles.

A large proportion of the apartments in De Puls will be middle market rentals, helping to boost the amount of affordable housing in the district. ‘De Puls combines diversity, affordable housing, working and leisure,’ says VORM’s director Hans Meurs. ‘We are creating ‘common ground’, where everyone feels welcome and at home.’

Holland Metropole partner MSVA Architects is also involved in the project and building work is slated to start in 2021.

With 33 full and associate partners, and five start-ups in tow, the Holland Metropole group is out in force at this year’s Expo Real trade fair in Munich.

The Holland Metrople partners include investors, developers, architects and planners and the stand will feature a wide range of projects across all real estate sectors.

‘We have so much on offer that it might prove a squash to show off all the scale models of the projects properly,’ says Annemieke Verwoert of the project team.

The Holland Metropole stand offers plenty of space for meetings and networking, including a bar and catering unit, plus a daily schedule of seminars and workshops.

Visit the stand in hall A2, stand 230