Rent prices in the Netherlands 2026: apartments stall, rooms climb
Published on 5 November 202613 min read
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Key takeaways
- Apartments ask a median €1,550 a month in 2026 (RentHunter data, 69,651 apartments, January to mid-October 2026). Like for like, that is only 0.5 to 1.2% more than a year earlier, after +8.4% the year before.
- Houses went flat: minus 0.6 to +0.6% in the year to Q3 2026, after +8.5%. The median house asks €1,870 (RentHunter data, 13,327 houses, same period).
- Rooms did not stall. Nationally +2.2% in the past year, and +8 to 15% in Groningen, Enschede, Tilburg, Maastricht, Wageningen and Delft (RentHunter data, like for like).
- The middle is thinning out: homes asking €1,000 to €1,499 fell from 30.5% to 25.3% of new homes in two years (RentHunter data).
Table of contents
- Are rent prices in the Netherlands still rising in 2026?
- What rent prices look like in 2026: apartments, houses, rooms and studios
- Why other reports say rents are still going up
- The regions caught up while the big cities stood still
- Student rooms keep climbing
- The middle segment is shrinking
- What this means for your search in 2026
- Frequently asked questions
- Final thoughts
- Sources
You've been refreshing Funda and Pararius since spring. Every other headline says Dutch rents are up again. Then a two-bedroom you saved in April pops back up in October, same street, same size, and the monthly price is... pretty much the same. You're not imagining it.
Rent prices in the Netherlands in 2026 tell a split story. Asking rents for apartments and houses jumped hard between summer 2024 and summer 2025, then barely moved in the year after. Rooms are the exception, and the climb is concentrated in university cities. We counted it on our own listing data, home by home, so here's the 2026 picture of the Dutch rental market without the press release spin. Useful whether you're an expat planning a move, an international student or already renting here and wondering what your next place will cost.
Are rent prices in the Netherlands still rising in 2026?
Barely, for apartments and houses. Comparing the same type of home in the same city and size band, free-sector asking rents rose 7 to 10% between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025, then about 1% between Q3 2025 and Q3 2026 (RentHunter data). Rooms kept rising, by 2.2% nationally and 8 to 15% in several student cities.
Here's how that splits by type of rental property:
| Apartment, Q3 2024 to Q3 2025 | 8.4% |
|---|---|
| Apartment, Q3 2025 to Q3 2026 (+0.5 to +1.2%) | 0.5% |
| House, Q3 2024 to Q3 2025 | 8.5% |
| House, Q3 2025 to Q3 2026 (minus 0.6 to +0.6%) | 0% |
| Room, Q3 2024 to Q3 2025 | 7% |
| Room, Q3 2025 to Q3 2026 | 2.2% |
The apartment number is the one to remember. Up 8.4% in the first year, then up 0.5 to 1.2% in the second. Houses went from +8.5% to somewhere between minus 0.6% and +0.6%, which is a polite way of saying flat. Studios also jumped in the first year (+9.6%), but the second year comes out inconclusive in our data, so we're not putting a number on it.
Even the raw medians on the 20 platforms we tracked over the whole period show the brakes going on: a self-contained home asked €1,550 in Q3 2024, €1,650 in Q3 2025 and €1,695 in Q3 2026 (RentHunter data). Per square metre: €20.11, then €21.69, then €22.27.
RentHunter listing data from about 900 free-sector platforms and agencies. Housing corporations, municipal portals and student housing providers are left out, the same home listed on several sites counts once, and every figure is a median asking rent including service costs. Changes over time compare the same type of home in the same city and size band, on platforms we covered in both periods. Nothing is reported on fewer than 100 listings.
What rent prices look like in 2026: apartments, houses, rooms and studios
The median free-sector apartment in the Netherlands asks €1,550 a month for 74 m2 in 2026, a house €1,870 for 118 m2, a studio €915 and a room €631 (RentHunter data, January to mid-October 2026). Across all self-contained homes the median lands on €1,500.
| Type of home | Median asking rent | Median size | Per m2 | Homes counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room | €631 | 16 m2 | €38.82 | 30,977 |
| Studio | €915 | 28 m2 | €32.38 | 8,356 |
| Apartment | €1,550 | 74 m2 | €21.88 | 69,651 |
| House | €1,870 | 118 m2 | €16.44 | 13,327 |
| All self-contained homes | €1,500 | 75 m2 | €21.73 | 91,334 |
RentHunter data, free-sector homes first seen 1 January to 14 October 2026, medians, duplicates removed.
Two things worth knowing before you budget off that table. First, these are asking rents for new listings, not what people already living somewhere typically pay on an older contract. Second, they're national, and location does most of the work. In the major cities, where many expats and internationals want to live, the number looks very different: Amsterdam apartments ask a median €2,350 (16,667 apartments), Rotterdam €1,790, Den Haag (The Hague) €1,780 and Utrecht €1,570, while Enschede apartments ask €1,050 (RentHunter data, 2026). Same country, very different month. Amsterdam has the highest rents by a distance, Eindhoven sits right on the national median for self-contained homes at €1,505 (RentHunter data, 3,623 homes, 2026).
Our average rent prices by city page breaks the levels down area by area, and the room, studio or apartment ladder shows what each step up costs.
And look at that per m2 column. A room costs €38.82 per square metre, an apartment €21.88. Yes, the room's m2 doesn't count the shared kitchen and bathroom. Still. You pay a premium for not having to buy a sofa.
Why other reports say rents are still going up
Pararius says free-sector rents rose 4.4% per m2 in a year. We say about 1% for apartments. Both can be right, because they measure different things.
According to the latest Pararius figures (Q3 2026, published 7 October 2026 and reported by Vastgoedjournaal), new tenants in the free sector paid an average of €1,914 a month, 2.4% more than a year earlier, and €20.92 per m2, 4.4% more. In the same figures, the average home rented out shrank from 99 m2 to 96 m2.
That last bit explains most of the gap. Pararius reports an average, based on what new tenants paid. If homes get smaller and the rent per home stays roughly put, the price per m2 goes up even when nobody raised anything. Our like-for-like method holds the size band fixed, so it answers a different question: what does the same kind of home ask now compared with a year ago?
We see the shrink too. An apartment asking €1,400 to €1,600 went from 78 m2 to 75 m2 in two years (RentHunter data). Same rent, less space. It's a sneaky kind of price rise, and it doesn't show up in a rent index per home. Especially if you're moving from abroad with furniture in storage, those 3 m2 are a real cost.
Asking rent or paid rent?
Listing data shows what new homes ask. Some reports show what new tenants paid. Neither tells you what people on older contracts pay.
Average or median?
An average is pulled up by a few very expensive homes. A median is the home in the middle. We only use medians.
Per home or per m2?
When homes get smaller, the price per m2 rises even if the rent per home stays put. In Pararius' Q3 2026 figures the average home rented out went from 99 to 96 m2.
All homes or like for like?
Comparing all listings mixes in new platforms and different homes. Like for like compares the same type of home in the same city and size band.
None of this makes one source wrong. It just means a headline figure is only as useful as the question behind it, so check whether you're looking at a monthly rent or a rate per m2 before you compare two numbers.
The regions caught up while the big cities stood still
Rents rose fastest outside the Randstad, while Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague barely moved per m2 in the past year. Measured per m2 from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026, Amsterdam came out at minus 0.4%, Utrecht minus 1.0% and Den Haag +0.2%. Rotterdam was the exception among the big four at +3.6% (RentHunter data).
Zoom out to whole years and the catch-up is obvious. Comparing the twelve months to September 2026 with the twelve months before, on the same platforms:
| Nijmegen | 17% |
|---|---|
| Enschede | 11% |
| Arnhem | 10% |
| Maastricht | 9% |
| Tilburg | 9% |
| Eindhoven | 8% |
| Rotterdam | 6.5% |
| Den Haag | 6% |
| Amsterdam | 5% |
Nijmegen around +17%, Enschede around +11%, Arnhem around +10%, Maastricht and Tilburg around +9%, Eindhoven around +8%. Then Rotterdam (+6.5%), Den Haag (+6%) and Amsterdam (+5%) (RentHunter data). The exact figure moves a few points depending on how you pool the platforms, so read these as approximate.
Wait, Amsterdam +5% over a year but minus 0.4% per m2 from Q3 to Q3? Yep, both hold. The year-on-year average still carries the 2024 to 2025 jump in it, while the Q3 snapshot shows prices sitting flat at the higher level. The jump happened. It just isn't happening anymore in Amsterdam.
Outside the Randstad it's a different story. The cheaper cities had more room to move, and they used it. Enschede apartments are still at €1,050 and Nijmegen self-contained homes at €1,290 (RentHunter data, 2026), so "affordable" is relative. Cheaper, not cheap. Still, for an expat or international moving here for work, a short train ride can change the monthly cost of life a lot more than any negotiation will. Plenty of people working in Amsterdam or Eindhoven live one city over and don't regret it.
Student rooms keep climbing
Rooms are the one type of home that didn't stall: the national median room rose 7.0% from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025 and another 2.2% to Q3 2026 (RentHunter data, like for like). In six student cities, Groningen, Enschede, Tilburg, Maastricht, Wageningen and Delft, the rise over the year to September 2026 was 8 to 15% (RentHunter data).
It wasn't a slow creep. Most of it came in one step at the start of the 2025 academic year, and the university cities that used to be the cheap escape route are closing the gap with the Randstad. We broke rooms down city by city, with what a normal room costs in each and how much it moved, in our student room prices guide. If you're a student budgeting for next year, start there.
The middle segment is shrinking
The share of new homes asking €1,000 to €1,499 a month fell from 30.5% to 25.3% in two years (RentHunter data). That's the price range a lot of young professionals, couples and small families actually aim for, and it's thinning out.
AI-generated illustration. Unfurnished in the Netherlands often means exactly this: walls, a radiator, a window.
Our listing data shows that the middle got thinner, not why. One thing that happened in the same window is official rent regulation: the Wet betaalbare huur (Affordable Rent Act) has capped starting rents of mid-range homes since 1 July 2024, and in 2026 that middenhuur ceiling sits at €1,228.07 a month according to Volkshuisvesting Nederland. Right in the middle of the shrinking band. We can't prove one caused the other, so we won't claim it.
What we can say: in 2026, 48.7% of self-contained homes nationally ask under €1,500, and in Amsterdam only 23.1% (RentHunter data, 91,334 and 18,357 homes). If your budget tops out at €1,500, the Netherlands still has plenty available. Amsterdam mostly doesn't, especially for a family that needs a second bedroom.
If a home asks more than €1,228.07 but looks small or basic for the money, it may score 186 WWS points or fewer, and then its starting rent is capped. Check its points with our legal rent cap check before you sign. A home that should be regulated but isn't is worth knowing about.
What this means for your search in 2026
Rents that stall don't mean rents that drop. The price of a typical apartment is roughly where it was a year ago, at a level about 9 to 10% above summer 2024 (RentHunter data, like for like). Budget for that level, not for the one before, and expect a landlord to check your income against it.
That income check is real. In the listings that state one, the typical rule is 3 times the monthly rent in gross income, and 28.7% of listings state a requirement (RentHunter data, 54,581 listings, January to May 2026). On the €1,550 median apartment, 3 times the rent means €4,650 gross a month (own calculation: 3 x €1,550).
A few practical moves:
- Compare per m2, not just per month. Two "€1,500" apartments can be 60 m2 and 80 m2. With homes getting smaller, the per m2 rate tells you more.
- Look one city over. Nijmegen, Arnhem and Enschede rose fastest but still sit well below the Randstad. Hard to call that a bargain, but it's honest maths.
- Ask what the price includes. Our figures include service costs (servicekosten). Ask for the kale huur (bare rent), whether utilities and energy are included or on top, and what the landlord will charge for the deposit. Municipal tax (gemeentebelasting) comes on top in most cases too.
- Don't wait for a seasonal dip. With size, furnishing and platform controlled, our data shows no reliable seasonal pattern in rents. A good place in March is a good place.
A rent far under the local median is how most rental scams open. If a two-bedroom in Amsterdam asks €900, slow down, ask for a viewing and never pay a deposit before signing. Our scam checklist has the full list.
Then there's the actual searching, which is where renting here eats your evenings. Free-sector homes are spread over hundreds of sites, from the big portals to tiny private agencies, and checking them every morning gets old fast. Been there. RentHunter brings listings from 1,100+ Dutch rental sites into one search, so you stop checking them one by one. It won't change the price of a home, but it does help you see every offer within your budget in one place.
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Frequently asked questions
Are rents still rising in the Netherlands in 2026? For apartments and houses, barely. Like for like, apartment asking rents rose 0.5 to 1.2% from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026 and houses stayed flat, after a 7 to 10% jump the year before (RentHunter data). Rooms kept rising, by 8 to 15% in several student cities.
What is the average rent in the Netherlands in 2026? The median free-sector apartment asks €1,550 a month and the median room €631 (RentHunter data, January to mid-October 2026). Pararius puts the average rent paid by new free-sector tenants at €1,914 in Q3 2026. City levels are on our average rent prices page.
How much can my landlord raise the rent in 2026? For an existing free-sector contract, at most 4.4% in 2026, according to the Rijksoverheid. Middenhuur homes can go up 6.1%, and social housing 4.1% from 1 July 2026. That limit is the annual increase on your current rent set by the government system, not a cap on the asking price of new listings. More in our guide to how much a rent can increase.
Which Dutch cities saw rents rise the most? Mostly outside the Randstad. Over the twelve months to September 2026, asking rents rose around 17% in Nijmegen, 11% in Enschede and 10% in Arnhem against about 5% in Amsterdam (RentHunter data, same platforms).
Why are student rooms still getting more expensive? Short answer: one big step at the start of the 2025 academic year that never came back down, and student cities still catching up with the Randstad. Our student room prices guide has the figures city by city.
Will rents drop if I wait until summer? Nope. With size, furnishing and platform controlled, our data shows no reliable seasonal pattern. Waiting mostly gets you fewer months in a home you'd have liked.
Where can I see every free-sector rental in the Netherlands? That's what RentHunter is for. It brings listings from 1,100+ Dutch rental sites into one search instead of twenty. Set a free alert on RentHunter and new homes that match your budget land in your inbox or the app.
Final thoughts
The scary rent jump happened in 2024 and 2025. For apartments and houses, 2026 is the year it stopped, at a higher level that hasn't come back down. The squeeze moved elsewhere: into student rooms, into the regions catching up with the Randstad, and into the middle band of homes that's getting harder to find. Budget for today's prices in euro per m2 as well as per month, keep the income rule in mind, and keep an eye on the cities next door. The Dutch rental market is still high and still tight, but in 2026 it's at least not running away from you.
Hit up RentHunter and let the hunt begin.
Sources
- RentHunter listing data, central stats file of 15 October 2026 (free-sector homes first seen 1 January to 14 October 2026) and the RentHunter press data methodology of 7 October 2026 (like-for-like changes, Q3 2024 to Q3 2026; income rules, January to May 2026), by the RentHunter Data team. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Vastgoedjournaal, "Pararius: uitponding verschuift naar duurste huursegment", 7 October 2026, on the Pararius figures for Q3 2026. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Rijksoverheid, Wet betaalbare huur in force from 1 July 2024, 25 June 2024. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Volkshuisvesting Nederland, maximale huurprijsgrenzen 2026. Checked 2 November 2026.
- Rijksoverheid, maximale huurverhoging 2026, 15 December 2025. Checked 2 November 2026.
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