Relocation rate drops further

• Fewer family relocations
• Slump in emigration of native Dutch

In the second quarter of 2009, the relocation rate declined by 10 percent relative to one year previously. The downward trend that set in last year appears to continue.

The family relocation rate has dropped recently, whereas the number of singles moving to another location hardly changed. The donward trend is partly caused by the economic crunch. Potential house buyers bide their time. Over the first six months of 2009, house sales were reduced by more than one third relative to the same period in 2008.

In the first six months of 2009, immigration still rose marginally, while emigration dropped slightly, but the migration pattern has changed. The number of native Dutch returning to the Netherlands increased somewhat, whereas the number of native Dutch leaving the Netherlands to settle elsewhere dropped dramatically. The emigration rate among married couples in particular showed a distinctly downward trend.

Immigration of people with a western foreign background ‒ notably labour migrants ‒ slumped in the second quarter. At the same time, there was an increase in emigration.

Immigration of people with a non-western background has slightly grown due to an increase in asylum seekers from Iraq and Somalia, whereas the number of departures dropped.