a.s.r. real assets has published a comprehensive White Paper titled 'Refining affordability in the Dutch residential rental market'. This study analyses the increasing relevance of differentiated concepts for defining affordable housing in the Dutch market. It develops a practice-oriented approach specifically tailored to the needs of institutional investors who invest in residential properties long-term and must consider societal demands for affordable housing. Housing affordability has become a central issue for investors and political stakeholders, making a more precise definition of affordable rents increasingly important.
The analysis starts from a structural housing shortage in the Netherlands, amounting to over 400,000 housing units. At the same time, rising purchase and rental prices make access to housing more difficult for large sections of the population. Robbert van Dijk, Fund Director of the ASR Dutch Core Residential Funds, stated that the developed approach provides his fund and its investors with a reliable basis for responsible, long-term investment decisions, while also enabling participation in addressing the undersupply in the affordable housing segment.
The White Paper concludes that blanket rent caps are insufficient to adequately reflect the actual affordability of housing. a.s.r. real assets therefore proposes a multi-layered approach. In addition to disposable household income, this approach considers regional income differences, energy costs, local taxes, and service charges. A housing cost-to-income ratio of 35 per cent of disposable household income serves as the starting point for the affordability assessment, acting as a central parameter of the model. This approach is complemented by the integration of local income data at the level of functional housing market regions, as well as by considering structural ancillary costs. This detailed analysis clarifies that the truly sustainable net cold rent often differs significantly from simplified market definitions.
Another key point of the study is the importance of sustainable buildings. Energy-efficient and fossil-free residential properties allow households to spend a larger proportion of their housing costs on cold rent without the total household burden increasing. Sustainability and affordability are not understood as antagonistic concepts here, but rather as interconnected factors that can create synergies. Marsha Sinninghe, Senior Fund Manager at a.s.r. real assets and author of the study, noted that affordability cannot be defined by a single metric, but is influenced by local market conditions, building characteristics, and the living situations of households. The goal was therefore to develop an approach that more accurately reflects the reality of the housing market and is applicable to implementing the fund's strategy. Approximately 80 per cent of the current fund portfolio falls into the affordable segment as defined by this method.
The developed approach has already been integrated into the impact investment strategy of the ASR Dutch Core Residential Fund. From 1 January 2026, the fund will use this approach to systematically evaluate the affordability of new residential investments. In doing so, a.s.r. real assets underlines its aspiration to combine financial returns with social impact in the Dutch housing market. The ASR Dutch Core Residential Fund was launched in 2015 and, as of December 2025, manages a portfolio of Dutch residential properties worth 2.4 billion EUR, comprising approximately 6,100 housing units. The fund is also accessible to German institutional investors and is marketed in Germany by PrimeraAdvisors.
