【Bloomberg】Amsterdam Housing Market Gets Some Help From Dutch Government

With Amsterdam’s housing shortage driving many of its residents out of the city, the Dutch government has decided to do something about it -- including capping rents.

On Friday, it signed a long-term housing deal with the Amsterdam metropolitan area to prevent tenants from being priced out of their neighborhoods, promising unspecified investments and tweaks to the law.

Dutch Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren and Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema are joining forces to keep the housing market affordable, after the median home price in the Dutch capital soared 80% in the past four years to €448,000 ($505,000).

Housing policy in the Netherlands is partly decentralized, with local governments responsible for ensuring supply and the national government for affordability. Now, amid inadequate supply and sizzling housing prices, the parties are looking to tackle the issue together.

“It is unacceptable for us that middle-income people are pushed further and further out of our region,” Halsema said at a ceremony to unveil the deal. “This housing agreement opens the door to new measures, a step forward for middle-income folks to obtain a house.”

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