Pace of Dutch office-to-resi conversion picks up

Investors are increasingly refurbishing vacant office buildings in the Netherlands into student accommodation, according to a report from Savills.

The trend simultaneously addresses the Netherlands’ current office oversupply and the shortage of student housing, the report said.

Evidence of the trend includes the redevelopment of Snippe in Diemen, known as project Diemervijver, involving the conversion of five former office buildings into a student campus including 534 student housing units to be delivered by September 2013 and a further 402 by early 2014.

Further examples include the recent conversion of former office building Rembrandtparkgebouw in west Amsterdam into a hotel, a higher education school and 128 student apartments by landlord Pronam and the Student Hotel in west Amsterdam, a former office building which is currently being redeveloped as student housing.

Jeroen Jansen, head of research at Savills in the Netherlands: 'The redevelopment of former office buildings into student housing accommodation is helping to alleviate a problem in both markets. With growing demand for student accommodation in the Netherlands against a shortage of supply the sector is becoming increasingly attractive to both domestic and international investors. Banks are more and more willing to finance this sort of property and achievable yields are in the region of 6% and 7% depending on location.'