Netherlands’ Housing Survey (WoON)

What does the survey comprise?

Purpose

Gathering information about the housing situation of the Dutch population and their living requirements and needs. Elements covered include the composition of households, the dwelling and living environment, housing costs, living requirements and housing relocations.

Target population

Persons aged 18 years or older living in private households.

Statistical unit

Persons, households, potential new households and occupied dwellings.

Year survey started

The WoON Survey has been conducted since 2006. It followed the national Housing Demand Survey, that was conducted since 1981.

Frequency

Three-yearly. The first edition in 2006 is conducted by ABF Research. Since 2009 the Survey is conducted by Statistics Netherlands. The survey is a joint co-operation between the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) and Statistics Netherlands.

Publication strategy

The figures are definite.

How is the survey conducted?

Survey type

The WoON survey is a sample survey. The sample is taken from all non-institutionalised Dutch residents who are 18 years or older and registered with their local municipality. From this group a stratified sample is taken according to the design of the survey, with nationwide coverage of municipalities. Several municipalities have chosen to increase their sample size (‘oversampling’), in order to guarantee having reliable information at the municipal level as well. The survey data are supplemented with administrative data.

Survey method

The housing Survey is conducted according to a ‘mixed mode’ design. Sample units (persons) are asked to participate via the internet (CAWI – Computer Assisted Web Interviewing). Non-respondents are re-approached using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) if their telephone number is known, and otherwise by way of Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).

External sources

• Basic Registration of Persons (BRP) (previously: Municipal Records Database (GBA))

• The Tax Authority

• Energy companies (data on gas and electricity consumption)

Sample size

A minimum of 60,000 respondents have to be reached, as the survey should also provide reliable information on small geographical subareas.

Checking and correction methods

Internal consistency and completeness is checked. Missing information is imputed following a standard procedure.

Weighting

A correction is applied to control differences between the sample and the population. For this purpose a weighting factor is used based on sex, age, ethnic background, region (municipality, COROP, province and some on request- oversampled municipalities), household income, Value Immovable Property and survey period.

Quality of the results

Accuracy

As the survey is based on a sample, the results will fluctuate because of random errors. The accuracy of these estimates is indicated in the StatLine tables by the ‘95% confidence interval’. This interval contains the true (unknown) value with 95% certainty. Figures are not published (.) in WoON when point estimate is based on fewer than 30 observations.

Sequential comparability

Figures are comparable over the years.