Issue Housing shortage and affordability under demographic pressure

Summary

The report sees the need for housing in the Netherlands growing steadily as population growth coincides with household thinning. Household thinning results from more people living alone as the population ages, together with more divorces and young people moving in together later. Because construction has not kept pace with demand and supply is inflexible, the housing shortage has deepened over roughly the past ten years and prices have risen sharply. Housing affordability is therefore under strain, and the report expects the rise of one-person households, possibly to 5.1 million by 2060, to have a large impact on the housing market. It sums up that the changing composition of the population adds to the burden on housing and public services as a whole.