Tight Tie Between Homes and Parents
And lifestyle impacts decisions to reproduce, CBS reports. Most people want to start a family when they have a suitable house. But home prices have spiked since 2014, and the birth rate has been on the decline since 2010, and more women are deferring childbirth.

Women aged 16 to 45 were also 10.4% less likely to have a child (between 2013 and 2023) in a region where houses had a price of around €450,000 than in areas where homes cost about €200,000. The brunt of the impact falls on renters. Tenants in high-price areas are 8.4% less likely to have children, while homeowners in these communities are 5.1% more likely to have children compared with those in lower-price areas.

Tenants Struggle to Find Family-Friendly Homes
The research also notes that family homes with gardens tend to be owner-occupied, and they are increasingly out of reach due to rising prices. Tenants are paying more for their homes and have fewer available options to move up into a family home. This financial pressure weighs heavily on their choices to have kids.

CBS and NIDI argue that the figures show unequal family formation opportunities in the Netherlands. Other studies found that women with lower education, flexible forms of employment and low incomes are also less likely to have children. All of these factors, which often intersect, represent further obstacles to women to start a family.