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The number of vacant homes, offices and shops decreased last year compared to the previous year. As of January 1 this year, more than 10,000 fewer buildings were vacant than a year earlier, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics.
At the beginning of this year, 219,000 properties were unused. Total vacancies were therefore 4.5% lower than the previous year, when 230,000 properties were vacant. The year before, they were 222,000.
Offices were relatively more often vacant at 10 percent, but the vacancy rate also decreased for these buildings, to over 8,000. Homes were relatively less often vacant: this was the case for more than 2 percent of homes. But in absolute numbers, the majority of vacant properties were homes, because they make up 87% of all residential properties. Earlier this year, nearly 180,000 homes were empty.
Considering regional differences, relatively many buildings are empty on the eastern border of the country. This is especially the case for shops and offices in Limburg, such as in the municipality of Bergen, where 28% of shops are not used. The municipality with the highest number of vacant houses was Appingedam in Groningen (8%). In Doetinchem, most of the offices were vacant (28%).
