The CBS conducted research into characteristics of homes and residents in relatively young neighborhoods. These are neighborhoods where at least a quarter of the houses were built in or after 2014. There are 145 new housing developments in 81 municipalities. 62 percent of these are located in moderately to highly urban areas, compared to 40 percent of the more than three thousand other neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with fewer than fifty houses were not included in the research.
In 2024, 687 thousand people lived in the studied new housing developments, nearly 4 percent of the population. More than two-thirds of them live in the Randstad. The Utrecht district Leidsche Rijn is the largest new housing development with over 49 thousand residents.
Inhabitants new housing developments, 2024
Residents of new housing developments often young families
Relatively many young people live in new housing developments. Especially the share of residents younger than 15 years (20 percent) and those aged 25 to 45 years (34 percent) is larger than in other neighborhoods.
Elderly people live less often in new housing developments. The share of those aged 65 and over is about half (11 percent) of that in other neighborhoods. Differences between new housing developments are large. Elderly people mainly live outside the Randstad, such as in North Brabant and the northern provinces. People aged 25 to 45 years live more often in and around cities like Almere, Amsterdam and The Hague.
Relatively many families with children live in new housing developments. In several neighborhoods in Almere and Lansingerland, more than half of the households are families with children. Singles and multi-person households without children live slightly less often in new housing developments than in other neighborhoods.