In 2022, more than 74,000 new homes will be completed, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Tuesday. That is the largest number since 2012. In total, the Dutch housing stock increased by 1.1 percent to more than 8.1 million homes. Statistics Netherlands attributes 0.9 percentage point of this to new construction, the other new homes include converted office buildings and split existing houses.
Statistics Netherlands had already expected that the number of newly built homes would be so high. In the years before 2022, many permits for new construction were issued, a good indication of the number of new homes to be delivered. There is an average of two years between the issuing of a permit and the delivery of a home.
Since last year, Statistics Netherlands calculates the new construction figures in a slightly different, more precise way than before. In the old method, which was standard until 2022, the number of completed new homes comes to over 73.5 thousand homes, slightly lower than in the new one. It makes no difference to the calculation of the total housing stock.
Fewer permits for new construction
The number of permits issued was lower every quarter in 2022 than in 2021, the CBS calculated in November. This is in line with figures from the Economic Institute for Construction (EIB), which expects that seventy thousand homes will be built in 2023, 10 percent less than in 2022. Causes include increased construction costs and higher interest rates. That number would not achieve the ambition of Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning Hugo de Jonge (CDA) to build 100,000 additional homes every year.
Not only are the number of permits falling, but fewer new homes have been sold for six quarters in a row than the year before. At first, this was mainly due to the fact that the demand for new-build homes was greater than the supply, according to the Dutch Association of Estate Agents. The supply is now much larger, but new construction is relatively expensive compared to existing construction due to increased construction costs. People would therefore be less likely to opt for a relatively expensive new-build home.