During the finalisation of this annual report, the world was overtaken by a serious crisis due to the COVID-19 virus.

Based on our assessment of the dynamics, opportunities and threats of the Dutch residential market over 2019, we arrived at following vision of the Dutch residential market:

The Dutch economy continued to perform well in 2019, although momentum did weaken during the course of the year. Real GDP growth amounted to 1.7% in 2019, which makes the Netherlands one of the most flourishing economies in Western Europe.

In 2019, the national government took a number of steps in the context of the National Housing Plan 2018-2021.

Before 2050, all residential buildings will have to be made sustainable and converted to low (or even net-zero) carbon.

The number of households in the Netherlands is expected to increase by around 10% in the period to 2040. This is equivalent to an extra 800,000 households.

Corporates experimenting with emerging technologies and the availability of capital for PropTech will transform the real estate and residential sector in the years ahead.

The pressure on the housing market is the most pronounced in the Randstad urban conurbation and other urbanised regions.

Given the low interest rate environment and the yield spread offered by real estate, investors’ capital inflow into real estate markets remained strong last year.

Bouwinvest has identified a number of opportunities and threats in the Dutch residential market that could affect the Residential Fund’s future returns and growth targets.