Houses for Rent in Ooststellingwerf

A house for rent in Ooststellingwerf costs about half of what the same home costs in Groningen. Based on over 100 listings tracked by RentHunter in Ooststellingwerf since March 2024, a rental house averages €878 a month for 97 m², and 79% of listings mention a garden.

Ooststellingwerf is not one town but a rural municipality of 25,540 people in southeast Friesland, spread over villages such as Oosterwolde, the seat of the town hall, Appelscha and Haulerwijk. A house to rent here usually means a village home with a garden on the edge of fields or forest, and 6% of listings target expats, so most landlords expect tenants who stay.

For newcomers the main surprise is logistics: Ooststellingwerf has no railway station, so daily life runs on the bus, the bike and the car. Plan the commute and the parking before you plan the furniture.

Commuting from Ooststellingwerf starts by bus or car, since the nearest railway stations lie outside the municipality, in towns such as Assen and Heerenveen. The N381 crosses the municipality and links Oosterwolde with Drachten to the northwest.

Groningen is about 68 minutes from Ooststellingwerf by public transit, for 50 km. The city has the largest job market of the north, with the university, a large academic hospital and many offices, so it is the main daily commute for households renting a house here.

Assen, across the provincial border in Drenthe, is the nearest intercity station east of Ooststellingwerf, on the line between Groningen and Zwolle. Many commuters drive or take the bus to Assen and continue by train, and houses in Assen are an option for renters who want the station within cycling distance.

Zwolle, the nearest major city to the south, is reached by train from Assen or from Heerenveen, west of the municipality. That route suits renters who travel to Overijssel or the Randstad once or twice a week rather than every day.

A house in Ooststellingwerf rents for €878 a month on average, 48% less than in Groningen, where the average is €1,694. That is a saving of about €816 a month, close to €9,800 a year, for a household that accepts the longer commute.

80% of Ooststellingwerf house listings ask between €648 and €1,220. By size, a one-bedroom house averages €783 (21 listings), a two-bedroom €923 (20 listings) and a three-bedroom €801 (46 listings). Three-bedroom homes come out cheaper than two-bedroom ones in these listings, so filter on space rather than on bedroom count when the budget is tight.

The average surface is 97 m², 27% of listings are furnished and the average deposit is 0.52 months of rent, well under the legal cap of two months of base rent. For a shorter trip to Groningen at a higher rent, compare houses in Tynaarlo, between Assen and Groningen.

• Oosterwolde: town hall, shops and schools Oosterwolde is the largest village of Ooststellingwerf and the seat of the town hall, with the main shops, supermarkets and secondary education of the municipality. A house here keeps daily errands on foot or by bike, the natural base for a family without a second car.
• Appelscha: on the edge of the Drents-Friese Wold Appelscha, in the south of Ooststellingwerf, borders the Drents-Friese Wold National Park, with forest, heath and sand drifts on the doorstep. It suits families who want nature and a garden more than a short commute.
• Haulerwijk: the northeast side, towards Groningen Haulerwijk lies in the northeast of Ooststellingwerf, near the border with Drenthe, on the side of the municipality closest to Groningen. It is the practical choice for commuters who drive north every day.
• Donkerbroek and Makkinga: small-village quiet Donkerbroek, on the N381 northwest of Oosterwolde, and Makkinga, a small village west of Oosterwolde, offer quiet streets with few shops, so a car is part of daily life. They suit renters who work in Drachten or Heerenveen.