It's a “calm” situation, says Evers, although that may sound strange to students who are still desperately looking for a place to live. “Some friction at the start of the academic year is almost inevitable: newcomers want a room, but graduates still have to leave. This problem is usually resolved by the beginning of October. Moreover, the availability of rooms currently seems relatively high.”
The university does not have an accurate view of the exact number of students still without accommodation, says Evers. However, there are sufficient “indications” that the numbers are smaller than in previous years at this time. “For example, 12 per cent fewer students have registered on the Maastricht Housing website [the platform where a large proportion of the housing offer is listed]. I have also heard from private landlords that it has been quieter than usual all year.” This picture is confirmed by recent figures from the nationwide housing website Kamernet. While the number of privately rented rooms on offer fell in many student cities, Maastricht was a positive exception: there were a quarter more rooms available than last year.
The fact that there is now more “breathing space” in the market is mainly due to the stabilisation of the total number of students. “At the moment, it seems that there are slightly more new students than last year, but that the outflow is also greater, resulting in virtually no growth,” says Evers, who emphasises that definitive figures are not yet available.
This marks a break with previous years, when the total number of students continued to rise, partly due to a considerable amount of students staying longer in Maastricht because of study delays incurred during the covid-19 pandemic. In the summer, hundreds of new homes were always needed – accompanied by anxiety about whether they could be completed on time – to prevent a room shortage. This year, however, no new student complexes were built: the stabilisation of student numbers was already expected. “All in all, it was a pretty good year for housing in Maastricht; the market is reasonably balanced,” says Evers.