René Muschter
Research Expert covering Industry & Mobility
Construction industry in the Netherlands - statistics & facts
In the past few years, the residential construction industry has not managed to increase its activity in the Netherlands despite the high demand for residential real estate and the rise in housing prices. The need for new housing can be expected to keep growing, as the population of the Netherlands rose by roughly 530,000 people between 2020 and 2024, and it is forecast to reach 18.5 million people by 2030. Meanwhile, the number of new households formed was much higher than the units added to the housing stock in 2021 and 2023, showing a housing gap. Although there were more new homes than households in 2023 and 2024, that was not enough to close the gap of the previous years. Indeed, the number of building permits for housing and for commercial buildings has been decreasing between 2021 and 2024.
