Imofolio

Amsterdam · report

Buy or rent in Amsterdam

Renting the average home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is what private tenants pay on average, after housing benefit. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month
€1,199
Owning per month
€2,657

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of €630,621 and the average rent private tenants paid in 2023, €1,199 a month after housing benefit, in Amsterdam, and a mortgage rate of 3.9%.

Assumptions
3.9
1
Property tax (OZB), water board charges, insurance, maintenance and the owners' association (VvE).
3
What the deposit and purchase costs could earn if invested instead.
7
Transfer tax (2% on a home you live in, none for most first-time buyers under 35), notary, valuation and mortgage advice, paid once.

Renting costs less each month than owning.

Rent a month
€1,199
Owning a month, not recovered
€2,638
Interest
€1,845
Running costs
€526
Return given up
€268
Cash out a month, if buying
€3,203

Gross rental yield in Amsterdam

A year's rent as a share of the average sale price, for each year CBS published it. Higher means rent is dear compared with buying.

Show the numbers
PeriodAmsterdam
20232.5%
20222.2%
20212.2%
20202.4%
20192.3%
20182.3%

The comparison counts only the costs of owning you never get back: interest, running costs and what the deposit and purchase costs could earn elsewhere. Loan repayments build equity, so they are left out. So is any rise in the home's value, because nobody knows it in advance. Rents here are what households renting from private landlords paid on average, after housing benefit, for new and long-standing tenancies alike (CBS); a new tenant usually pays more, so the yield reads low. Social housing, rented from housing associations, is left out, and a municipality with too few private tenants takes the Netherlands' figure.

Other reports for Amsterdam

At the average sale price, a home costs €630,621. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €2,690 a month. The Netherlands sets no single cap on the payment: each year the law fixes how much of their income a household may spend on the mortgage, by income and interest rate.

Payment, two incomes
37%
Payment, one income
74%

44.3% more homes were licensed for construction in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Licensed, 12 months
9,760
Per 1,000 residents
10.4

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 3 times since 1995. The deepest began in 2008.

Deepest fall
−16.0%
Recovery from the low
36 months

In 2025 the population grew by 7,387 while 7,328 homes were finished: 1.0 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
1.0
Population change, 2025
+7,387

6.7% of the 494,450 homes registered on 1 January 2026 had nobody living in them.

Empty, 2026
6.7%
Empty homes
33,290

In 2024, 18% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2024
18%