Cause of housing crisis according to Dutch municipalities? Not the investor, but the low transfer of senior citizens from large to small houses

6-1-2022 — 

Public broadcaster NOS conducted a study among a majority of Dutch municipalities into the cause of the current housing crisis. 
And what was the outcome? Where politicians almost only speak about ways to stop investors from buying houses to rent out, it appears that investors are not indicated by all those municipalities as a major cause of the current housing crisis in their town. 55% of the Dutch municipalities, large and small, indicated that the low flow of senior citizens from their often large home to a smaller one, is the main driver of the current housing crisis.

And that is remarkable! Because the current discussion is mostly only about the housing investor.

Most cited causes by Dutch municipalities for the housing crisis
55% - the low transfer of senior citizens from large to small houses
24% - housing corporations have too little money for construction
24% - shortage of building land
20% - lack of direction by the government
16% - wealthy buyers drive up prices
13% - residents from elsewhere interfere with the market
10% - opposition from province
9%   - municipality has too little power
8%   - municipality also has to house status holders
5%   - nitrogen rules hinder the issuing of building permits
5%   - investors buy up rental properties
4%   - too many homes owned by landlords
3%   - insufficient interest by project developers
2%   - real estate agents force up prices

This is, to say the least, a very unexpected outcome that you rarely hear politicians talk about.

Other solutions to make better use of the current housing stock
Of course, lot's of houses need to be built! But by taking a good look at the current housing stock, fewer houses would need to be built. There are easy solutions. Not only by ensuring that it is interesting for the elderly to move from their large family home to a smaller one. But also by making it more attractive or possible for the elderly, without a reduction in benefits, to live together in one house with a partner / friend / family member a lot of houses would come available.
Or by being less rigid with the rules for recreational housing and give people permission to live there permanently, so the 2nd house can become available for someone else.
In many major cities such as Amsterdam a large house with more bedrooms can no longer be shared by f.i. 3 or 4 tenants if the landlords does not have a permit to do so. This means that for 4 people that want to share a house, 2 houses are now needed instead of 1 house. Which therefore increases the housing shortage.
A lot of extra homes need to be built, but if we’d better manage the current housing stock then we may not need a million new homes at all.

You may also be interested to read: the pseudo solutions by politicians to solve the housing crisis