Economic picture slightly more negative in January

The CBS Business Cycle Tracer is a tool used to monitor the state of the Dutch economy. It provides an overall macroeconomic picture of the past month or quarter, based on all figures published by CBS. This picture will still vary between households, enterprises or regions, however.

Consumers more negative, producers more positive

Consumers were more negative in January than in the previous month, while producers were more positive. This was the first time in almost three years that producers were positive. Producer confidence was above the average for the past twenty years, while consumer confidence was below it.

Household consumption and exports up, investment down

Household spending was 0.5 percent higher in November 2025 than it was in November 2024, adjusted for price changes and the shopping-day pattern. Households spent more on services, in particular.

In November 2025, the total volume of goods exported (adjusted for the number of working days) was up by 4.7 percent year on year. Export volumes were higher for transport equipment and machinery.

In November 2025, the volume of investment in tangible fixed assets was down by 4.1 percent year on year. This was mainly due to less investment in other road transport (lorries, trailers, vans, etc.).

Manufacturing output almost 1 percent higher in November year on year

In November 2025, the calendar-adjusted output of the Dutch manufacturing sector was 0.7 percent higher than it was in November 2024. After adjusting for seasonal and calendar effects, manufacturing output fell by 0.5 percent relative to October.

Fewer bankruptcies in December

Adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 42 fewer bankruptcies in December than in November, a decrease of 14 percent.

House prices up by almost 6 percent in December, year on year

The average price of an owner-occupied home (excluding newbuild homes) was up by 5.8 percent in December 2025, year on year. Prices in December fell by 0.9 percent relative to November.
Fewer hours worked, fewer vacancies, unemployment fairly stable

There were 410 thousand unemployed persons in December 2025. Just as in the previous three months, 4.0 percent of the labour force aged 15 to 74 years were unemployed. The number of unemployed persons has remained the same over the past three months, on average.

In Q4 2025, employees and self-employed persons worked over 3.7 billion hours in total. Adjusted for seasonal effects, this number was down by 0.3 percent on Q3.

The number of vacancies decreased by 7 thousand to 380 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2025. The number of vacancies has fallen in almost every quarter for three consecutive years.
In Q3 2025, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 0.9 percent higher, year on year.

Economic growth of 0.5 percent in Q4 2025

According to the first estimate carried out by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.5 percent in Q4 2025 relative to Q3 2025. This growth was mainly attributable to exports and public consumption.