Data insights: which municipalities are pushing ahead?

The go-getters driving development

In recent years, the housing deals (‘woondeals’) established how many homes each municipality is required to build between 2022 and 2030. The total target is nearly 1 million homes by 2030. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, 314,700 of those homes have been handed over (Map 1). That's 24% less than planned. While the country as a whole is lagging behind, some regional go-getters are making significant progress.

At first glance, the large cities seem to be driving housing development. Amsterdam tops the list with over 26,000 homes, trailed by Rotterdam (12,700), Utrecht (8,600), The Hague (7,600) and Eindhoven (6,700). Yet there’s more to the story than these numbers alone.

When looking at the figures relative to the population size (Map 2), we notice that several smaller municipalities are leading the way. In Zoeterwoude, Eemsdelta, Waddinxveen and Noord-Beveland, more than 40 homes per 1,000 inhabitants were built. Well above the national average of 17.9. A large new-build project in such a small municipality immediately has a noticeable impact on the local housing market.

In the larger cities, the number of homes per inhabitant is considerably lower. In Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Eindhoven and Maastricht, the number sits at around 29 homes per 1,000 inhabitants. This is still above the national average. The Hague and Rotterdam, in contrast, are lagging behind, with 13.8 and 19.3 homes per 1,000 inhabitants respectively. Construction output also remains limited in some rural regions - such as Zuid-Limburg, the Achterhoek, and Friesland - both in absolute numbers and on a per resident basis.

It remains difficult to draw firm conclusions about, for example, urban versus rural, or large versus small municipalities. The differences within these groups are too significant. Nonetheless, it's evident that the big cities lead in sheer volume, while a few small municipalities are expanding the housing stock at a fast relative pace when measured against their population.

Who’s meeting the targets?

Pushing ahead isn’t just about producing volume, but about making real impact. Hence, the key question is: how much do the homes being built today actually help relieve the regional housing shortage?

That shortage differs widely across the country. That’s why we’re looking not just at the number of completed homes, but also at what each municipality committed to in the housing deals. At this point, 76%of the homes that should have been delivered in this period - to stay on track for the 2030 targets  have actually been built. Only 39% of municipalities are currently on track [1]. These are mostly smaller municipalities in the more peripheral parts of the country, where the task is generally less demanding (Map 3).

Earlier, we saw that Zuid-Limburg and Friesland are delivering a relatively low number of new homes. Yet they are still meeting their agreed targets, because the housing shortage in these regions is less severe. In other words, they remain on track to deliver the ambitions set out in the housing deals.

Furthermore, a number of cities are actually exceeding their targets. Nijmegen is noteworthy as the largest city, having already built 5,100 homes. This achievement exceeds 100% of the agreed-upon targets. Enschede, Deventer and Maastricht are also performing well, each being more than 20% ahead of schedule.

In contrast, not a single municipality in the G5 — the five largest cities in the Netherlands — is currently on track. Even though they produce the highest number of new homes, it’s still not enough to meet their targets. Amsterdam performs relatively well at 85%, which is above the national average of 76%. The Hague and Utrecht score the lowest at around 57%.

Lastly, there're 53 municipalities that are seriously lagging in development progress; they have not reached 50% of their target for Q3 2025. Most of these are situated in the dense urban belt between The Hague and Rotterdam up to Zwolle and Arnhem. These are high demand areas, but projects are clearly failing to get off the ground.

The bottom line is this: Current housing output is failing to sufficiently relieve the housing shortage in many areas. The municipalities that are on schedule are mainly situated in the country’s peripheral regions where demand is lower. And while the G5 cities are building the most homes, they still need to make significant progress to catch up and achieve their targets by 2030. Whether they succeed depends on the plans being developed today.

Go-getters of the future

Some of the homes delivered so far (Maps 1 and 2) had already been scheduled before the housing deals were signed. For future developments, we must consequently look at the number of building permits issued (Maps 4 and 5). On average, a new home is completed within two years of a building permit being issued (source: WoningbouwersNL). The permits therefore provide a good indication of where construction will take place in the near future.

A total of 177,800 building permits have been issued in the past two years (Q4 2023 – Q3 2025). This amounts to an average of 10.1 homes per 1,000 inhabitants. The cities of Eindhoven and Haarlem are doing particularly well. Eindhoven issued 5,700 permits (24.0 per 1,000 inhabitants) and Haarlem 4,800 (29.6 per 1,000 inhabitants).

It's notable that some municipalities that have made significant progress in terms of construction are now lagging behind in terms of permit issuance. Maastricht, for example, where production was high until now, is not maintaining their lead. Based on the current projected plans, Maastricht will only meet a little more than half of their total target.

The Hague is also lagging behind. The city issued 3,900 building permits over two years, equating to 7.0 homes per 1,000 inhabitants. Even if all approved plans go ahead, they will only achieve a mere third of the municipality’s housing objective.

These homes are slated for handover in the coming years. The question remains: will this be enough to reach the national target of 1 million homes in 2030?

1 million homes in 2030?

The building permits issued provide a rough indication of future housing production – assuming that the homes have not yet been built and will actually be realised. If you add these to the current number of completed homes, approximately half a million homes will have been built in two years’ time. That represents a significant step forward, but it is not enough to meet the goal of 1 million homes by 2030. Although there are some positive exceptions, most municipalities must take substantial action to alleviate the housing crisis.

It’s therefore valuable to look beyond the figures alone. What are the success stories behind the municipalities that truly manage to push ahead? The data doesn’t show the process behind a project; how it moves from permit to construction to final handover. Yet that process is crucial for speeding things up. Municipalities and developers rely on each other to make it work. So what’s going well in those partnerships, and what can we learn from them?

In a subsequent article, we will zoom in on one of the success stories behind the figures. We will show how VanWonen pushed ahead with a project and what this can teach us about tackling the housing challenge in the Netherlands.

_{Sources and definitions}

_{New builds completed calculated based on CBS data: life cycle of homes (version 20 October 2025). Sum of new builds completed + balance of additions and removals, including changes in use. As in national figures, demolition has not been taken into account.}

_{Source: Data on housing deals from denieuwbouwmonitor.nl (5 August 2025).}

_{Source: Demographic figures for residents in 2022: CBS (7 August 2025)}

_{Source: Spring 2025 Report – Woningbouwers NL}

_{[1] This analysis was based on an equal distribution of the total housing construction task over the years 2022 - 2030. While this may not precisely match each municipality’s schedule, it nonetheless offers a strong insight into how municipalities are currently performing against the targets in the housing deals.}