Owners of non-ESG compliant NL resi could face penalties

One of the main challenges in the Netherlands real estate market is the lack of residential property.

Dennis de Laat, Deputy Head of Real Estate Finance Benelux, Berlin Hyp says the shortages are serious. “There’s a huge demand for housing so on the demand side there is there is no real problem and you can benefit from that. But it’s not so easy to develop.”

He said that lengthy procedures precede adding new stock, “so there is a strong focus on existing stock and that puts pressure on prices.”

But the hidden challenge with this existing stock is that, while newer property will have higher standards of energy efficiency and be ESG compliant, owners of older stock will need a strategy in place to bring such assets up to scratch.

“Investors, in the end, will face some rental regulation if they do not comply with new sustainability standards,” he said. “Everybody more or less has an incentive to focus on sustainable residential.”

Click on the video to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.