In the four major cities, private investors have bought a quarter of the homes on offer in the past ten years, the Land Registry reports on Saturday. Looking at the whole of the Netherlands, their percentage is 15. These are investors who buy the homes to rent them out.
The share of private investors in total housing transactions rose steadily in the last decade, with a dip in 2019. Investors also bought relatively fewer homes in the first half of last year. In the last quarter of 2020 there was again a significant increase. This was mainly because many buyers anticipated new transfer tax rules.
At the beginning of this year, the transfer tax for investors was increased from 2 to 8 percent. Many of them therefore took to the housing market before the turn of the year. Their share then rose to 30 percent in the whole of the Netherlands and in the four major cities to 40 percent.
At the same time, many young people up to the age of 35 have postponed their purchase until after the turn of the year. This is because from 1 January they no longer have to pay transfer tax when they buy a home for the first time. The number of transactions was therefore twice as high in January as in the same month last year.
On April 1, the rules for the transfer tax will be slightly adjusted again. The exemption then only applies to homes up to 400,000 euros.
According to the Land Registry, investors are often active in neighborhoods where young people want to live. “This can create competition between investors and start-ups. Earlier research has shown that the two groups do not always get in each other’s way. We do see that many purchases by private investors often lead to a higher average house price”, according to the Land Registry.
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