Bouwinvest Acquires 300 High-End Rental Apartments in Iconic Amsterdam Tower

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Bouwinvest REIM, one of the largest Dutch investment managers specializing in real estate, has bought 300 high-end rental apartments in the Pontsteiger. The investment is for Bouwinvest’s €2.6 billion ($3.6 billion) institutional Residential Fund.

The arch-shaped 26-story Pontsteiger is a landmark tower that will be developed alongside Amsterdam’s IJ waterway, in Houthaven, a new neighborhood for the city. The new tower will be the centerpiece of the new residential neighborhood being developed on former dockland west of Amsterdam’s city center. The building will feature a total of 450 apartments, out of which 150 will be for individual sale, and a large parking garage for residents.

 “We are seeing clear signals that the Dutch residential market is bottoming out after five years of successive price falls. Combined with new government legislation to rebalance the domestic housing sector and make it more open to market forces, we expect both solid capital gains and rental increases in the Netherlands in coming years,” said Allard van Spaandonk, director Netherlands Bouwinvest in a news release. “This means the Pontsteiger acquisition fits squarely into the investment strategy of our Residential Fund, which aims to capitalize on the deep structural changes underway in Dutch residential.”

The Pontsteiger project was first drawn up in 2007 but due to the financial crisis that hit the Dutch real estate market plans were set aside until earlier this year. Developers Dura Vermeer and M.J. de Nijs took over the plans in March 2014. Construction is expected to start in June 2015, scheduled for completion by November 2017.

“Now is a good time for investors to step into Dutch real estate, particularly residential properties. After five lean years the market has hit an attractive level in the cycle,” Spaandonk added. “ With the government’s moves to rebalance the housing sector as a whole we’ve reached an historical inflection point that makes for a compelling investment proposition.”