Apartments, rooms and studios for rent in Midden Groningen

Midden-Groningen is the municipality just southeast of the city of Groningen, formed in 2018 from Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Menterwolde and Slochteren. Most renters who land here work or study in Groningen and want more space for less money, or they grew up in one of the villages and want to stay. Based on over 400 listings tracked by RentHunter in Midden-Groningen since February 2024, the average rent across all types is €930 a month for an average 80 m², with 80% of listings between €400 and €1,390.

Picture a Saturday in Hoogezand: you cycle along the Winschoterdiep, past the shipyards that built the town, and are home again in an apartment that, on average, costs 23% less than one in Groningen. That is the trade the rental market here is built on. Apartments make up two thirds of the listings, family houses with gardens follow, and rooms are a small niche.

Rent in Midden-Groningen also varies a lot by town. Hoogezand and Sappemeer have the train, the shops and most of the apartments; Slochteren, Zuidbroek, Muntendam and the smaller villages around them offer houses, space and quiet, with fewer listings at any one time.

• Apartments: 66% of listings at €968 Apartments in Midden-Groningen average €968 a month for 60 m², and with 298 listings they are by far the largest segment. Most sit in Hoogezand and Sappemeer, within cycling distance of a station, which suits a single commuter or a couple without a car. Browse the apartments in Midden-Groningen to see what is listed right now.
• Houses: 116 m² for €1,277 Houses in Midden-Groningen average €1,277 a month for 116 m², almost twice the floor space of an apartment for about €300 more. With 74 listings they make up 16% of the market, and they are where most of the gardens are. Families who need three bedrooms and a shed for the bikes usually end up looking at the houses in Midden-Groningen.
• Rooms: 11% of listings at €435 Rooms in Midden-Groningen average €435 a month, and with 49 listings they are a small niche next to the student market in Groningen. 8% of all listings here are aimed at students, so a room in Hoogezand mostly suits someone who wants a lower rent and accepts the train ride. The rooms in Midden-Groningen show what is on offer.
• Gardens in 23% of listings, parking in 20% Listings in Midden-Groningen mention a garden in 23% of cases, parking in 20% and a balcony in 16%. 13% are listed as furnished, so most tenants bring their own furniture, and 9% target expats. The average deposit is 1.09 months of rent, below the legal maximum of two months.

Life in Midden-Groningen splits between the canal towns of Hoogezand and Sappemeer and a ring of farming villages to the north and east. The canal towns have the supermarkets, schools and stations; the villages have the old farmhouses, the open fields and the quiet that many tenants move here for.

Hoogezand and Sappemeer form one long town along the Winschoterdiep, the canal where shipyards still build vessels. Imagine renting a flat near the centre of Hoogezand: the station and the shopping streets are on foot, and Sappemeer starts where Hoogezand ends. Most apartments and rooms in the municipality are found in these two towns.

Slochteren is the village of the Fraeylemaborg, a moated manor house with a public park, and the name behind the large gas field discovered nearby in 1959. A Sunday walk through the borg's gardens and back to a rented farmhouse sums up the village side of Midden-Groningen. Renters who like this pace also compare the lakeside villages of Tynaarlo, across the Zuidlaardermeer, and the port towns of Eemsdelta further northeast.

Kropswolde, at the western end of Midden-Groningen, sits on the Zuidlaardermeer, a lake popular for sailing, swimming and cycling loops. It also has its own small station on the line to Groningen, so a summer evening on the water and a short train ride to work can go together.

Commuting from Midden-Groningen runs mainly on the railway line from Groningen to Winschoten, with stations at Kropswolde, Martenshoek, Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Sappemeer Oost and Zuidbroek. Villages away from the line, such as Slochteren, rely on buses or the bike to the nearest station.

Midden-Groningen to the city of Groningen takes about 54 minutes by public transport over 26 km, counted door to door from the middle of the municipality. From a home near one of the stations on the line the train ride itself is shorter, which is why Hoogezand and Sappemeer draw most commuters. Compare the rental market in Groningen to see what the shorter trip would cost.

Midden-Groningen to Utrecht takes about 176 minutes by public transport, with at least one change, in Groningen, and Amsterdam is further still. That works for a monthly meeting in the Randstad, not for a daily commute.