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Groningen · report

Buy or rent in Groningen

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
€800
Owning per month
€1,671

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of €396,626 and the average rent private tenants paid in 2024, €800 a month after housing benefit, in Groningen, 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
€800
Owning a month, not recovered
€1,659
Interest
€1,160
Running costs
€331
Return given up
€169
Cash out a month, if buying
€2,014

Gross rental yield in Groningen

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
PeriodGroningen
20242.6%
20232.6%
20222.5%
20212.6%
20202.9%
20193.0%
20183.3%
20173.5%
20163.8%
20153.9%

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 Groningen

At the average sale price, a home costs €396,626. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is €1,692 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
25%
Payment, one income
50%

50.1% fewer homes were licensed for construction in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Licensed, 12 months
657
Per 1,000 residents
2.7

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more once since 1995. That fall began in 2007.

Deepest fall
−10.5%
Recovery from the low
36 months

In 2025 the population grew by 15 while 968 homes were finished: 0.0 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
0.0
Population change, 2025
+15

5.0% of the 125,820 homes registered on 1 January 2026 had nobody living in them.

Empty, 2026
5.0%
Empty homes
6,310

In 2024, 50% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2024
50%