Prinsjesdag 2022 (Budget Day): What are the Dutch government's plans for 2023?
22 september 2022
This week, Minister of Finance Kaag presented the Miljoenennota (Annual Budget) for 2023 – titled 'Investeren in nu en later' (roughly, 'investing in today and tomorrow'). This year's Miljoenennota mainly addresses the growing uncertainty about people's livelihood security due to the unprecedented inflation caused by the war in Ukraine.
The government aims to cushion the negative effects of the high inflation in 2023 by boosting purchasing power with measures worth € 17.2 billion. Additionally, the government intends to improve the future-readiness of the job market, to reduce poverty, and to improve relations between citizens and public authorities. The housing market plays a lesser role in this year's Miljoenennota, which mainly seems to repeat the programmes announced in previous years. The main take-aways for the housing market are as follows:
- Through the Programma Betaalbaar Wonen (affordable housing programme), the government aims to regulate the initial rent prices of mid-sector rental homes. The hoped-for clarity regarding what these regulations will actually entail was unfortunately not forthcoming on this year's Prinsjesdag; this hope has now shifted to December.
- In the Programma Woningbouw (housing construction programme), the government outlines the ambition to accelerate the production of residential units in the Netherlands to 100,000 new homes per year, totalling 900,000 by the end of 2030. To achieve this ambition, the Woningbouwimpuls-programma (housing construction impetus programme) has been renewed, and a sum of 7.5 billion euros has been freed up in the Mobiliteitsfonds (mobility fund) for various large-scale housing construction areas. These measures were promised previously and as such do not add a new impetus to the market.
- In the Sociaal Huurakkoord (social rent agreement) and the programme 'Een thuis voor iedereen' (for everyone a home), the government has made several agreements regarding the social rent sector. For example, indexation in the social sector has been capped for the next three years, there will be a one-off income-dependent rent reduction for lower income renters, the rent benefit system will be simplified and the rent benefit increased. The housing of elderly people and other special needs groups will have extra attention, and the landlord levy will be abolished to accelerate the construction of social rental homes. The one-off rent reduction and increase of the rent benefit are new measures in response to the current energy crisis.
- A number of previously announced measures relating to taxation are repeated in this year's Miljoenennota. For example, the 'jubelton' (an arrangement permitting a tax-exempt gift of 100,000 euros from parents to children specifically for the purpose of buying a house), which was introduced in 2010, will be curtailed starting 1 January 2023 and fully abolished on 1 January 2024. It had emerged in early 2022 that the government intended to again raise the transfer tax, and this year's Miljoenennota names the new rate as 10.4 per cent. A new element concerns rules for fiscal investment institutions, which are no longer permitted to invest directly in real estate. Indirect investment in real estate is still permitted.
- With respect to sustainability, the government is focusing first of all on reducing the energy need. Through the Nationaal Isolatieprogramma (national insulation programme), the government aims to insulate the 2.5 poorly insulated homes. This is not a new programme, but this year's Miljoenennota earmarks an additional 300 million euros for the programme, in 2023 and 2024. Finally, agreements have been made to phase out the energy labels E, F and G for housing association units between now and end 2028, and the hybrid heat pump will be designated as the new standard starting in 2026.
More information?
Capital Value closely follows developments in the housing market. Would you like to know more about the status of Dutch housing policy or the possible consequences of the announced rent regulation on the rental income of your portfolio or of your development? Please contact Stefan Janssen on 06 22 96 70 88 or s dot janssen at capitalvalue dot nl. We are happy to help you.