On April 16^th, IN Amsterdam (together with amsterdam&partners, metropolitan region amsterdam, and amsterdam inbusiness) hosted an event about housing for internationals in the Amsterdam area, called “creating a level playing field”. The event was aimed at service providers, companies and government agencies whose work is related to assisting expats in finding their future home in the Netherlands. Of course, Expat Management Group was present as well.

Amsterdam has a complicated housing market, in which expats especially experience many difficulties when trying to find a new home. The market is complex, and mostly in Dutch; expats have often been the victims of illegal practices; and the preconceptions the industry has of expats are narrow and outdated. The perception of expats is that they are able to pay much more than locals, or even that “their boss always pays for their housing”. In practice, this does not seem to be the case at all. In fact, only 3% of expats receive a housing allowance from their employer.

This is why IN Amsterdam aspires to level the playing field for expats in the Amsterdam area. One way they are pioneering this initiative has been by creating a tool aimed at visualizing diverse living opportunities around Amsterdam Center. The tool is designed to show you how far you can travel to and from Amsterdam central station through several means of transportation (public transport, bike, car, walking, etc.) within a certain amount of time. You can customize the mode of transport and time limit yourself. The tool was created with the aim of showing expats that they do not have to live in the city center of Amsterdam in order to be close to work. The tool has been published on their website already, so you can find it right here. An updated version will be published in May, in which you will also be able to take into account factors such as dropping off your kids at school on the way to and from work   

A subsequent and really useful creation with which IN Amsterdam is simplifying the home search for expats is a section on their website dedicated solely to the eight areas surrounding Amsterdam. Every section (e.g. Haarlem, Almere, and Hilversum) contains practical information about the area, such as types of homes, different neighborhoods, available international schools, and more. On top of that, they’ve created an online quiz to see which of these areas best fits your living needs. Through several questions about your preferences, the quiz’s outcome will show you which one is most suitable to your wishes.
You can find all of the above at: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/living/about-living-in-amsterdam/living-in-the-amsterdam-area.

If you have any questions yourself about moving to or within Amsterdam, Expat Management Group’s relocation is happy to assist and may offer you cheaper and safer options to find a new home than if you try to do this yourself.