Introduction Theme
Editie: 31 - Global vs. Local
Published on: 07 juli 2024
Still no new cabinet, macro-economic challenges and the new Woning Wet. The Netherlands has become a different, challenging and more uncertain country for real estate development and investment. This bundle focusses on the current challenges that are arising in the Netherlands and the position of our market on a global scale.
Political uncertainty in the Netherlands is still at an all-time high. With the previous cabinet resigning in 2022, and there still not being a new formation almost half a year after the latest elections, the uncertainty will likely stay for a while longer. This does not just impact the local real estate market in the Netherlands, but also the position of our market for global investors. Next to this political impact, insights into the macro-economic impacts on the market of the last few years will be discussed by professionals in these fields. With a combination inflation in the Netherlands being 10% over 2022 and 3.8% over 2023, as well as the building and material costs on a continuously rising trend, the landscape of the development market is facing a lot of challenges (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2024).
The city scale brings a whole new set of local challenges. Urbanization in the Netherlands is still happening on a large scale, making our cities more densely populated (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2022). Especially the larger cities such as Eindhoven, Rotterdam and Amsterdam see a large influx of new inhabitants pressuring the infrastructure and healthiness of the city.
This year’s magazine zooms in on those shifts and challenges, bringing valuable insights on the current status of the Dutch real estate market on all scales, from local governments and cities to a vision from outer space.
Theme-articles
In this bundle, multiple professionals and scholars will elaborate on the challenges in the Netherlands on a local and global scale. These theme articles are divided in two topics:
- Local: Zooming in on infrastructure and health within cities and the best courses of action for our growing cities
- National and Global: How has the Dutch market for developing and investing changed over the last years, what will we expect from the future and are we still interesting for foreign investors?
Dr. Ing. Peter van der Waerden (Lecturer and Researcher at the Technical University of Eindhoven) will provide in-depth insights on the impact that weather conditions have on parking preferences in city centers, whereas dr. Melvin Wong (Assistant Professor and Researcher at the Technical University) will elaborate on how effective urban planning can help with disease prevention. Finally, Chris Bruntlett (International Relations Manager of the Dutch Cycling Embassy) highlights how proper cycling infrastructure can make a city stand out.
On the national and international scale, we get insights from all parts of the sector. Maarten de Gruyter (Columnist and Director of Boelens de Gruyter) will give his honest and unnuanced opinion on the current state of the development sector in the Netherlands, while Robert-Jan Foortse (Head of European Real Estate at APG) and Edo Hanrath (Lead Center of Expertise team at ING Real Estate Finance) will share their views on the market from an investment perspective. Robert-Jan will do this from the viewpoint of the institutional investors such as pension funds, where Edo brings the viewpoint from banks in the Netherlands.
Finally, next to the theme articles, this edition follows new trends in the sector both on global and national scales. Johan Beukema (Expert in Footprint Optimization, Location Strategies and Site Selection at Buck Consultants International) will share the trends on global decentralization of businesses, Hilde Remoy (Associate Professor, head of section Real Estate Management at TU Delft) writes about how the circular transformation of real estate can be made feasible, Joep Dirx (TU/e Graduate and Junior Project manager “Slimmer Investeren” at Trudo) shares the findings of his research paper on the use of sustainable material in Dutch residential construction and Jasper Ponte (Project manager at BRINK) educates on a new trend in the Netherlands to combat the building costs, being so-called Bouwstromen.
Finally, even though the theme of this year is Global vs. Local, the choice was made to look even further than our globe, with an interview with André Kuijpers (Astronaut) who has been hands on with some of the most high-end technology and sees the sector from an astronautic point of view.
On the author: Stef de Waard
| Editor. Student Urban Systems and Real Estate at the Eindhoven University of Technology. |  |
References
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. (2022). Waar groeit of krimpt de bevolking? Https://Www.Cbs.Nl/Nl-Nl/Dossier/Dossier-Verstedelijking/Waar-Groeit-of-Krimpt-de-Bevolking-. https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/dossier/dossier-verstedelijking/waar-groeit-of-krimpt-de-bevolking-
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. (2024). Inflatie. https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/longread/de-nederlandse-economie/2024/de-nederlandse-economie-in-2023/6-inflatie
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