Noord-Holland is building homes at a faster pace than in previous years, but the province is still not on track to meet its long-term housing goals. According to the 2025 Housing Monitor, around 18,600 homes had entered the construction phase by autumn, with that figure expected to rise to 19,000 by 2026. In 2024 alone, 14,900 new homes were added to the housing stock, a substantial increase compared to the year before.
Despite this progress, the region remains 15,200 homes behind the commitments made in national and regional Housing Deals. Noord-Holland has agreed to help deliver 191,000 new homes between 2022 and 2030, which would require the construction pace to rise to about 23,500 homes per year, significantly more than current levels.
Provincial housing deputy Jelle Beemsterboer praised municipalities, developers and housing corporations for the recent acceleration, but stressed that “we need to speed up even further” if the 2030 target is to be met.
Affordable homes are the biggest gap
The shortfall is felt most in the affordable housing segment. Many of the projects that do move forward are in the mid- and higher-price ranges, while social and lower-cost homes lag behind. Noord-Holland, like the rest of the Netherlands, faces high demand from first-time buyers, families and lower-income households who are struggling to find reasonably priced housing near work or study.
Nationally, the Netherlands is dealing with a shortage of hundreds of thousands of homes, and experts have repeatedly warned that slow growth in the affordable segment is pushing people into overcrowded or temporary accommodation and delaying key life steps such as moving out, forming households or starting families.
Photo Credits: Antoni Shkraba/Pexels
Permits, grid congestion and infrastructure delays
The Housing Monitor lists several reasons why many planned projects in Noord-Holland are still stuck on paper. Municipalities report that housing developments often stall due to:
Lengthy permit procedures and spatial-planning processes
Congestion on the electricity grid, making it difficult to connect new neighbourhoods
Insufficient road and transport infrastructure to support additional residents
Financial viability issues, especially for projects with a high share of affordable homes
To tackle bureaucratic delays, the province has set up a Housing Acceleration Desk and hired a project management firm to help municipalities push complex projects forward. For grid congestion, Noord-Holland is experimenting with solutions such as using large batteries for developments that cannot immediately be linked to the electricity network, for example, a recent case in Zaandam.
Provincial support and new building methods
The province says it is actively working to “unblock” stalled housing projects. This includes case-by-case support for municipalities, more flexibility for building in certain protected landscapes, and encouraging the use of industrial construction methods, such as homes partially assembled in factories. These approaches are intended to reduce costs and speed up delivery without compromising quality.
By closely monitoring progress with the Housing Monitor and intervening where necessary, Noord-Holland hopes to narrow the gap between promised and delivered homes in the coming years. However, officials acknowledge that broader issues, such as national spatial rules, grid upgrades and the economic climate, will also determine how quickly new housing actually reaches residents.
For now, the province can point to a sharp rise in construction activity, but with tens of thousands of additional homes still needed by 2030, the pressure to accelerate remains high.
