Entering the housing market often begins with renting private housing

© CBS
Half of households that entered the housing market in 2023 began by renting a home in the private sector. Nearly one in five newly formed households bought their first home in 2023. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of new figures.
Fifty percent of the 338 thousand newly formed households in 2023 moved to privately rented housing. A total of 22 percent rented a home from a housing association. Newly formed households were less likely to buy a home: 19 percent moved to owner-occupied housing. The remaining 9 percent moved to other types of housing, such as a property with a non-residential function, such as an anti-squat scheme or a hotel providing housing on a temporary basis.


A total of 560 thousand young adults rented or bought a home for the first time in the Netherlands in 2023. These were individuals who left the parental home and formed 338 thousand new households in a (new) home. New households can also be formed when people move in together: 60 thousand new households were formed in this way in 2023.

Number of newly formed households increased

Between 2021 and 2023, the number of households entering the housing market rose from nearly 296 thousand to over 338 thousand (14 percent). In 2022, there was a small peak in the number of newly formed households, mainly due to the arrival of Ukrainian refugees, but it fell again slightly in 2023.

A number of young adults went to live alone or with others who also rented or bought a home for the first time, but some moved in with an existing household. This number rose from over 51 thousand in 2021 to 60 thousand (17 percent) in 2023.


A quarter of people moving house do not leave their old home unoccupied

In addition to people entering the housing market, there are also people who move house. These are people who already owned or rented a home and move to a new home in the Netherlands. In 2023, more than 1 million people moved into a new home (52 thousand). Twenty-five percent of these homes did not become vacant. This happens, for example, when a couple separates and one person moves into a new home, while the other stays in the old home. This was particularly true of people who moved from one privately rented home to another: in 38 percent of cases, the old home was still occupied.

Home of people moving house is often a rental property

More than half of the 452 thousand new homes occupied by people who moved house in 2023 were rental properties: 29 percent were privately rented homes and 27 percent was social housing. Over 40 percent were owner-occupied dwellings and 3 percent were other types of housing.

A large share of people who moved remained within the same category of housing (own home or rented). For example, nearly half of those who moved out of an owner-occupied home bought a new home, and nearly 45 percent of those who moved out of social housing moved into a new social housing unit. Private rental properties were often left behind while still occupied by another person, but the person who left was likely to rent a home in the private sector again.