The new coalition agreement 2026 on tackling housing and spatial planning: 5 things you need to know

The coalition addresses the housing shortage by streamlining permits and appeal procedures. The accumulation of appeals on objection procedures will be cut back, municipal permitting capacity will be expanded, and parallel planning procedures shall be encouraged by the government. A Simplification Act (Vereenvoudigingswet) will, among other things, simplify regulations for adding residential storeys to existing buildings and the division into apartment rights, establishing national minimum standards and mandatory predictability of municipal policy. Above-statutory building requirements will be eliminated, and the Building Decree (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving) will be simplified to remove costly provisions. In the rental market, forthcoming legal and fiscal adjustments are designed to rebuild investor confidence and stimulate renewed growth.

A minimum of 30 major sites will be designated nationwide for new residential construction. The government will adopt a more proactive role in spatial planning and housing policy, incentivising municipalities that exceed their delivery targets whilst providing targeted support to those that fall short. New developments must comprise at least two-thirds affordable housing, with a minimum of 30% allocated to social rent and 25% to affordable ownership, although these margins may vary per region based on regional needs. Developers retain flexibility to fulfil the remaining one-third of housing demand through either rental or ownership models. To accelerate innovation, standardised prefabricated building concepts will gain access to expedited permitting procedures, enabling faster, more sustainable and replicable construction methods, with dedicated provisions for priority groups.

Mortgage interest relief will be retained, preserving the owner-occupier advantage. Municipalities will receive enhanced tools for active land policy and fair-price acquisition, strengthening and deploying pre-emption rights to curb price inflation driven by competitive bidding. Housing associations will gain greater scope to invest in areas where markets fail to deliver, through expanded non-DAEB powers enabling development beyond traditional social rent and social real estate mandates. Furthermore, to improve housing affordability and ensure fairer access to social housing, the government will introduce annual income verification, agree suitable rent (passende huur) arrangements with housing associations, and implement an asset test for new entrants to the social rent sector. These measures aim to better align rent levels with tenants' actual financial capacity, freeing up affordable housing for those who need it most whilst encouraging tenant mobility for households whose income has increased beyond social rent thresholds.

From 2029 to 2035, €1 billion per annum will support affordable housing delivery. For the period 2031 to 2035, €1.1 billion annually will fund access roads, maintenance and utility connections to new development sites, complemented by a one-off allocation of €1.5 billion in 2028 and 2029 (€750 million in each year) for near-term infrastructure that accelerates housing delivery, accessibility and economic growth. A company income tax facility (Vennootschapsbelasting) will expand housing association investment capacity: €250 million per annum in 2028 and 2029, €275 million in 2030, and €325 million thereafter as a structural provision. Transfer tax for private investors in housing will be reduced from 8% to 7% in 2027, aimed at reviving buy-to-let investor appetite and stimulating project finance.

A Crisis Law on Grid Congestion will accelerate energy permits and empower interventions when network expansion stalls; heat networks will be scaled up, with the state prepared to acquire equity stakes, both measures relieving grid pressure for new residential districts. Also, a revived nitrogen fund will support nature restoration, regional development and agricultural transition. The nitrogen crisis has led to significant delays and restrictions on new housing development, as construction projects must demonstrate they will not increase nitrogen emissions that harm protected areas. This has resulted in building permit freezes in several regions, creating a bottleneck in addressing the housing shortage whilst authorities work to balance environmental protection with the urgent need for residential development. Lastly, digital infrastructure receives elevated priority: expedited procaedures will be introduced, alongside support for an AI "factory" in the north of the country and European-autonomous data centres, though financing arrangements for data centres remain unspecified and grid capacity continues to pose a critical constraint.