Which Dutch student city is cheapest, and where is the housing crisis worst?
Rent, competition and how many rooms actually come online in each of the ten biggest student cities. Numbers from Casa's own scan.
If you can still choose your city, or you're deciding between offers, this is the honest picture. Casa scans every listing site in these ten cities every ten minutes, so the counts on the front page are live.
Cheapest rooms
Groningen and Nijmegen: rooms €400 to €600. Maastricht and Eindhoven: €450 to €700. Leiden, Delft, Utrecht, Rotterdam and Den Haag: €500 to €800. Amsterdam: €650 to €950, and studios from €1,000. All-in prices, 2026.
Hardest to find
Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen in August and September are the worst: hundreds of replies per room, and "hospiteren" evenings where twenty people are interviewed. Delft and Leiden are small, so rooms go through networks and sublets; alerts matter more than browsing. Maastricht, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Rotterdam have more supply per student, especially outside the centre.
The rules that bite internationals
"No internationals" and "Dutch only" ads are most common in Groningen, Utrecht and Nijmegen student houses (housemates choose, and they choose in Dutch). Registration refusals are most common in Amsterdam and Den Haag, where illegal subletting is rife. Casa flags both on every listing.
Where to live in each city
Every Casa city page shows bike minutes from each listing to the main campus, the station and the second campus, plus the neighbourhood from the Kadaster address register. Sort by "closest to campus" on the browse page. The Maastricht neighbourhood guide is the model; more city guides are coming.
Start now, wherever you're going
The single biggest factor is speed. Set up alerts for your city in June, not August: the good rooms for September are listed early and go in days.