Despite the shortage of housing in the Netherlands, the national housing stock has increased by one million to eight million over the past 16 years, according to August figures from national statistics office CBS.

In total, the supply of housing increased by 39,000 units in the first six months of this year, including both new build and conversions.

The province of Zuid-Holland, home to Holland Metropole partners Rotterdam and The Hague, has most housing – a total of 1.7 million homes. Noord-Holland, which includes Amsterdam, has 1.4 million of the total.

Single people

Given the national population is now around 17.4 million, the eight million figure means there are 2.2 residents for each home, compared with 4.8 people 100 years ago. Nevertheless, there is still a major shortage of properties, because of the surge in people living alone, the CBS said.

Amsterdam for example, now has 464,000 homes for its population of some 860,000, or fewer than two people per property.

One million new homes

In February, a consortium of 34 developers, construction companies, lobby groups, housing corporations and tenants associations formed a massive alliance to tackle the housing shortage in the Netherlands.

In total, they say that one million new homes need to be built in the Netherlands in the next 10 years to meet demand.

The organisations hope their plans will form the backbone of the next government’s strategy on housing.

Current government strategy involves realising 75,000 new homes a year through new build and converting other buildings.