Q1 2026 Kamernet Rent Report

Room inventory grows in Kamernet as the time to look for a room starts Rotterdam, 21 May 2026 – Room rents remain at a high level: students pay an average of €660 per month in The Netherlands. This means the median rent is 3% higher than a year ago (€ 640), according to the Kamernet Rent Report Q1 2026, part of HousingAnywhere. The report analyses the rental prices for rooms offered by private landlords and flat sharers in 17 Dutch cities.

A strong year-on-year increase was seen in Maastricht (+15.8%). In the first quarter of 2026, students there paid an average of €550 per month for a room. Compared with Q4 2025, however, the median rent in Maastricht was actually 0.9% lower. A similar pattern can be seen in Groningen: year-on-year, the median rent for a room rose by 12.6% to €580, but compared with the previous quarter it fell by 2.5%. This trend reflects the market’s seasonal cycle: prices typically peak at the start of the academic year and level off during the winter months as student mobility slows. In Rotterdam, the median rent remained stable compared to last year at €710, while prices declined in Ede (-4.3%) and Eindhoven (-2.8%).

Although the median rent for a student room increased by 3%, the price per square metre remains stable, with a slight rise of 0.7% to €46.3. At the same time, outliers show that the market remains highly local: in cities such as Tilburg (+20.6%), Enschede (+11.4%) and Arnhem (+11.1%), students pay clearly more for the same amount of living space than a year earlier. Meanwhile, affordability per square metre improved in Leeuwarden (-7.8%), Ede (-5.8%) and Rotterdam (-5.2%).

The total number of room listings in Kamernet increased by 10.4% in Q1 2026 compared to a year ago. However, an increase in available rooms in the platform does not necessarily signal the long-awaited surge in new student housing stock or a definitive cooling of rental prices for students.

“It is encouraging to see that students could find more available rooms in Kamernet during the first quarter of the year,” says Jim Bijwaard, COO of Kamernet. “Since the 2024 regulatory shifts, we’ve seen a divergence: while many private landlords are exiting the market by selling their properties, some view student housing as the only viable, compliant rental model. However, even with this momentary growth in inventory, demand continues to outpace supply. In such a saturated market, starting your search early remains the most effective strategy for securing a room.”

For clarification: the 2025 National Student Housing Monitor by Kences shows that around 50% of students living independently rent a room or studio from a private landlord. As a rental platform that lists homes from private providers, Kamernet represents this segment of the market. The remaining students—about 35%—live in rooms from housing associations, typically at lower prices, or with other informal providers.

About the Kamernet Rental Report Q1 2026

The Kamernet Rental Report analyses data from Kamernet, the Netherlands’ largest student housing rental platform. Properties on Kamernet are mainly listed by private owners, letting agents and residents who directly offer their available rooms. The platform does not include properties offered by housing associations, which as non-profit organisations typically charge lower rents. The Kamernet Rental Report Q1 2026 analysed 10,357 rooms listed on Kamernet in Q1 2026 and Q1 2025. 40% of rooms were listed by private landlords, 46% by housemates, 8% by letting agents and 6% by others. In Q1 2026, 52.5% of rooms were furnished (Q1 2025: 54%). The remaining rooms were unfurnished or semi-furnished. Rents are calculated based on the information landlords provide when posting a listing on Kamernet. In the rooms segment, a threshold is applied to exclude rooms larger than 30m², so that potential manual input errors by advertisers are not included in the report. Kamernet calculates absolute room rents and price per square metre by city based on the median. The national average rent is calculated using a weighted average that takes into account the number of rooms listed per city. Year-on-year price developments are expressed as percentages. To provide a robust dataset, cities with fewer than 30 listings per quarter are excluded from the report. The analysed cities are: Amsterdam, Arnhem, Breda, Delft, The Hague, Ede, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Haarlem, Leeuwarden, Leiden, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Utrecht. The methodology has changed over the years: where a weighted average was previously used, the median rent is now applied. As a result, figures from different reporting periods are not directly comparable. For more information, please visit the FAQ.

About Kamernet

Founded in 2000, Kamernet has been the Netherlands’ largest rental platform for both tenants and landlords for over 20 years, offering around 60,000 properties per year. Since 2021, Kamernet has been part of HousingAnywhere. Kamernet primarily focuses on students and young professionals looking for a place to start or continue their independent lives. By carefully considering users’ needs, Kamernet brings supply and demand together across the Netherlands and offers the smartest options for renting or letting a room, studio or apartment. Kamernet is not an estate agent, provider, intermediary or landlord of the properties, but a neutral online platform.