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The second quarter of 2023 shows positive purchase price trends, as well as a higher number of mortgages taken out and homes sold. This fits within the usual seasonal pattern of the owner-occupied housing market. Therefore, this cannot yet be seen as the definitive reversal of the current correction in the owner-occupied housing market. However, there are indications that a free fall in transactions and prices is not to be expected in the coming months.

In the first quarter of 2023, the downward trend in housing market prices continues. The number of homes sold in the existing housing stock also appears to be at a lower level than we were used to in previous years. Yet there is certainly no free fall in the housing market. The market is becoming calmer, giving consumers a bit more choice and increasingly they dare to bid beneath the asking price. However, the limited production of new homes in the owner-occupied sector and the continuing growth in population will keep pressure on the housing demand, making price increases more likely in the medium term.

Nowadays, the housing crisis is high on the political agenda. But that was not the case in 2019. However, at TU Delft, the contours of the problem were already visible. Marja Elsinga (Professor of Housing Institutions & Governance) was asked to lead the 1M Homes project. The main question was: is it necessary to build an additional one million homes or can it be solved differently.

Universities in the Netherlands face a number of common challenges in managing their campuses. These include dilemmas concerning hybrid working and studying , dynamics in the numbers of incoming students, the shortage of (student) housing, sustainability and a healthy work environment. Over the next four years, the Campus NL research project will bring together these challenges to make campus management at each of the 14 Dutch universities more effective and efficient.

While the number of homes sold in the existing housing stock remains fairly stable, the fall in purchase prices continues steadily in the fourth quarter of 2022. The sharp rise in mortgage interest rates in recent months has direct consequences for households' borrowing capacity. In combination with the recent fall in purchase prices, this rise in mortgage interest rates is also making potential buyers more risk-averse.

A resident is facing a major renovation of his rental property. What does the renovation entail? What choices can a tenant make himself? What kind of preparations should he make, and what will the final result look like? Virtual reality enables residents to walk through all of the stages in half an hour, from demolition to the final result.

As a result of skyrocketing inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) has raised refinancing rates several times, which has also caused mortgage rates in the Netherlands to triple in the past three quarters. These sharply rising mortgage rates directly affect households' borrowing capacity. In addition, it puts indirectly pressure on consumer confidence in the general economy and in the owner-occupied housing market. A drop in the purchase price like in the third quarter of 2022 is logical in such a situation, even if the number of homes sold still remains fairly constant.

Bringing about change in construction is difficult. In circular construction projects, for instance, ambitions are often not achieved because cooperation has to take place differently than what we are used to. Although circular techniques are often available, their deployment for transition to a circular construction economy does not happen automatically. Professor of Construction Cultures Alfons van Marrewijk makes the necessary connection between engineering and social sciences so that change does take place.

“Construction law can be seen as part of a galaxy: different parties, legal frameworks and interests all influence each other,” describes professor Evelien Bruggeman. “Balancing those forcefields is paramount to give technological developments a place in society.” On 16 September, the professor of Building Law at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment will give her inaugural speech, showing how digitisation in the built environment can find a place in the galaxy of construction law and the force field of technological and societal innovation.

The number of offered and sold new-build homes in the first quarter of 2022 appears to have fallen back to the level as it was shortly after the credit crisis (2008-2013). In addition, the number of new build homes for which a building permit was granted in the first five months of 2022 was about 15% lower than in the previous year. In the owner-occupied sector, this is even more than 20%.