Private Landlords Exit, Particularly in Student Cities
Landlords, especially private ones, have been selling these properties when apartments empty out, a process fueled by rent control, higher taxes and an end to temporary leases. In the first four months of 2025 alone, 13,000 rentals were sold, two-thirds to first-time homebuyers. Cities with universities — including Leiden, Groningen, Maastricht, Wageningen and Delft — have been the most affected, with 1,900 rentals disappearing in the first quarter alone.

Up here in these cities, especially Atlanta and the like, very few properties are being bought for the purposes of renting, because of the high transfer taxes and purchase protection rules.

A recent proposal by the housing minister, Mona Keijzer, to relax rent regulations may be affecting the market, whose pace of sales slowed slightly in the first quarter. The coming quarter will reveal whether these adjustments are sufficient to halt the sell-off.

Deep-Pocketed Investors Step in with High-Priced Rentals
Even with all those homes exiting the rental market, the overall percentage of rental homes fell barely from 9.3% last year to 9.2% in the first quarter.

This stability is also being propped up by big investors, who have added more than 17,000 new rental units in the last year, offsetting the 19,000 units sold.

But these new rentals d.