Housing shortage in Groningen worse than even Amsterdam

The supply of houses for sale in the municipality of Groningen has reached its lowest point ever, meaning that the housing shortage in Groningen is now greater than even in Amsterdam. It is also increasingly difficult to buy a home in the province of Drenthe, according to local estate agent Jacco van der Houwen in the Dagblad van het Noorden, as reported by the Groninger Internet Courant.

According to him at the moment there are only 210 houses for sale in Groningen, and that is an “absolute low point”. Half a year ago, alarm bells rang in the Groninger property market because only three hundred homes were being offered for sale at the time. But since then, the range of owner-occupied homes has only declined.

The demand for private homes is so high because the city is attracting more and more people from the region. There has also been a general population increase, and both the University of Groninen and Hanzehogeschool are attracting more and more students, both from within the Netherlands, and internationally. The most important factor, however, is the fact that too few new houses are being built, says real estate agent Van der Houwen in the Dagblad van het Noorden.

Elsewhere in the province of Groningen there is also a shortage: even in places described as ‘generally shrinking’, like Winsum and Loppersum. Both of these towns also have historically low numbers of houses for sale.

Province of Drenthe

According to the Dagblad van het Noorden, it is also increasingly difficult to buy a home in the province of Drenthe. There are only 136 homes for sale in Assen, 210 in Emmen and 95 in Hoogeveen.

Private Rental in the City

As anyone who has tried to move into a new rental property in the last few years has seen, the number of properties available to students, young professionals, and growing families has also shrunk. This is causing a so-called ‘domino effect’ in the housing market: with growing families unable to move into family houses, and so not freeing up their (often centrally-located) properties for young professionals, who are turning to student properties. This in turn means that there are fewer inexpensive, good-quality rooms for students, and has even led to the widely-publicised homelessness problem amongst International Students when they first arrive in Groningen.

Image: an Estate Agent’s photo of an apartment for sale on the Gedempte Kattendiep in Groningen, that was snapped-up almost immediately after being put on sale. Via the GIC.