Some 300 Belgian families have taken advantage of a formula allowing them to rent a property with an option to buy since its launch five years ago, property developer Gilen Real Estate disclosed on Wednesday.
Over 18,000 others are on the waiting list to become ‘hamster tenants,’ the name given in Belgium to persons who opt for the rent-to-own formula.
The arrangement allows a private individual to rent, through a property developer, a new home with an option to buy. After a few years, the rent paid can be converted into capital with which the first part of the purchase is financed.
Saint-Trond-based property developer Gilen Real Estate launched the concept five years ago. It now has 300 homes in the hands of three different funds, in which Belfius (Immo), Société Fédérale de Participations et d’Investissement (SFPI) and Ethias are also involved.
The funds are managed by Win AM and represent a total portfolio of more than €100 million.
In 2023, around 50 new tenants were added and the company estimates that there will be at least 500 renting their homes through this formula in 2024. “Nearly 8 out of 10 users are young people in their twenties or thirties, with an average net income of between €1,500 and €3,000,” developer Laurens Gilen says.
The majority of hamster rental homes are located in Flanders, in the provinces of Limburg (42%), Antwerp (14%) and East Flanders (14%).
A total of 18,460 people are on the waiting list.
“Today there is a huge group of Belgians who do not have the opportunity to access the housing market,” Gilen explains. “They have too little start-up capital to buy a quality property, and there is not enough supply on the quality rental market.”
“According to estimates, we should be delivering some 50,000 new homes a year just to meet current demand,” he notes.
