Landlords offloading Dutch rentals leads to record-high apartment sales

Based on figures from Dutch land registry Kadaster, the sale of apartments in the Netherlands has risen by almost 25 percent, reaching a record high. The growth is mainly due to landlords selling off their rental properties.

Dutch apartment sales rise by nearly 25 percent

Of the more than 230.000 homes that were sold in the Netherlands during 2025, 85.000 were apartments - 25 percent more than the year before. According to Kadaster, this is the highest number of apartments ever sold in a single year. 

A reason for this is that landlords are selling off their rental properties, due to rent regulations such as the Affordable Rent Act, and many of these homes tend to be smaller and more affordable than other properties on the Dutch housing market. 

This also explains why the number of young first-time buyers has spiked, as they often buy more affordable homes when first climbing on the property ladder. Properties owned by investors are on average 130.000 euros cheaper than other homes and sell for an average of 384.000 euros.

Housing prices rise less rapidly from sale of affordable homes

Because first-time buyers are seizing the opportunity to snatch up more affordable homes when they come on the market, house prices rose slightly less rapidly. According to NU.nl, this was particularly noticeable in the province of North Holland.

For example, in Amsterdam where there are more investors selling off rental properties, housing prices rose just 3,6 percent. On the other hand, Drenthe, which has fewer investors, saw prices shoot up by 11 percent.

Housing market expert Peter Boelhouwer says this can be expected. "Price increases always start in the Randstad," he explains. "But now prices there are reaching their limits." This causes a “ripple effect” where prices outside the Randstad start rising while the region sees stagnating price increases. 

Multiple records broken for Dutch housing in 2025

Not only did the country see the highest number of apartment sales, but the last quarter of 2025 also set a record for housing transactions. In the last three months of the year alone, 67.200 properties were sold - the highest number ever recorded in a single quarter.

The housing market in the Netherlands saw many other new records last year, including highs for the average housing price which rose to 480.000 euros and a significant increase in the number of homes sold for more than 500.000 euros - rising from 61.000 to 84.000 in one year.