Economy
Figures - Construction and housing
Construction is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Dutch economy. Growth in 2017 came to 5.6 percent compared to 2016. At the end of 2017, the added value of construction was 35 percent higher than the low point in early 2013. However, pre-2008 levels have not yet been attained, even though the gross domestic product (GDP) has been higher since early 2015 than it was before the crisis.
At the start of the first quarter of 2018, the confidence of entrepreneurs in the construction sector was 34.5. In other words, confidence bounced back after a decline in the previous quarter. Entrepreneurial confidence in construction made it the most positive of all sectors for the sixth quarter in a row. In 2013, construction had been the sector with the most pessimistic outlook.
The entrepreneurs are positive about developments in production and anticipate further growth in employment. However, construction companies are having difficulty finding workers. Almost one in five entrepreneurs in the construction industry indicate that the shortage of suitable labour impedes their production.
In 2017, building permits were issued for nearly 70,000 new homes. That is 30 percent more than in 2016. This is approaching the numbers being issued before the economic crisis. Between 2000 and 2008, permits were granted for an average of around 80,000 new homes to be built each year. The number of permits issued to construct new residential properties is an indicator of what will be built in the near future. The average lead time from permit to completed new home is two years.
The cost of the construction and renovation of homes was in excess of 11 billion euros, 34 percent up on 2016. For business premises, construction costs rose by 13 percent to over 5.8 billion euros. Total construction costs in connection with newly issued permits reached almost 17 billion euros, the highest figure since 2012.
The construction costs associated with each permit issued are determined by estimating the value of the materials and labour costs involved in the construction contract. Only building permits of 50,000 euros or above are included in this statistic.
Nearly 63,000 new homes were added to the housing stock in 2017. That is almost 15 percent more than in 2016 and the highest figure since 2009. The total stock on 1 January 2018 consisted of over 7.7 million homes.
Between 2000 and 2009, an average of over 76,000 new homes were added to the stock each year. Since 2010, this number has declined considerably. The low point came in 2014, when only 45,000 new homes were delivered. Despite the increase since 2014, the number of new build homes in 2017 was almost 20 percent down on the average for the period 2000–2009.
In 2017 too, more houses changed ownership than in the previous year. A total of almost 242,000 existing owner-occupied houses were sold. This is the highest number since 1995 and represented a record amount of almost 64 billion euros. At the low point in 2013, just over 110,000 existing homes were sold, less than half the number sold in 2017.
In 2017, almost 1.9 million people moved home in the Netherlands, over 420,000 more than in 2010. The largest proportion, almost 58 percent of moves, took place within the same municipality. Nearly 25 percent of those who moved went to live in a municipality in the same province, while 17 percent moved to another province.