(Editor’s note: This edition of the Eindhoven Business Briefing is dedicated to real estate because tech companies competing for highly talented internationals requires plentiful, affordable housing.)
If there’s a city in Europe that needs to move quickly to expand its housing inventory, it’s Eindhoven. With two of the world’s dominant semiconductor companies – ASML and NXP – local officials project Eindhoven’s population will grow by about 50,000 people by 2040. We think that’s low. We’re projecting here, but we see Eindhoven surpassing Utrecht in the next few years to become the Netherlands’ fourth-largest city behind Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag.
In the notoriously regulatory-hamstrung Netherlands, which already has a housing shortage, can any city grow that quickly? Well, we’re surprised and delighted to say a housing boom is indeed in full swing. We counted no less than eight major multi-family high rise projects planned, under construction or opening this year. And that doesn’t count all the small projects or the conventional housing developments outside Eindhoven in Heeze, Eersel and Valkenswaard.
The bad news is, demand is forcing prices and rental rates ever higher, rivaling Amsterdam in some cases.
Perhaps the largest and most anticipated project is the opening of the Nieuw Bergen complex on the southwest side of centrum.
On the planning boards since 2017, the multi-building project with 237 units appears to be close to completion. The Nieuw Bergen website states construction will wrap in 2026, but the project is mostly sold out. The Indigo building, the highest of the five-building complex, already towers above the city.
Prices range from 831,000 to 1.7 million euros, so this is definitely for the 1 percent. The penthouse in Indigo is available, rumored to be priced at a cool 5 million euros, unheard of in a city like Eindhoven. But probably a pretty good indicator of the shape of things to come in this deep-tech boomtown.
Lightyards
First apartments available in 2027
Lightyards is a multi-building residential/office project planned next to Eindhoven Centraal train station in the center of the city. The first building, the Social Hub, was built in 2017 and includes the Student Hotel. Now, the plan is for three more buildings – two residence towers and one office building – around a central green space.
• At 75 meters high, the Highlight building will be the largest, with 192 small- to medium-sized rental units. The ground floor will feature several large, double-height apartments with their own front doors opening onto the courtyard garden. “These apartments are ideal for a home-based business or studio,” according to the Lightyards website.
• Of the 50 apartments in the Lumen building, 28 are offered with KoopStart. KoopStart is a scheme where you buy the unit discounted below market value. If you sell it later, you cover the buyer’s discount, sharing any increase or decrease in the value of your home with AM, the developer.
• The Connector office building will be 50 meters high, with balconies and greenery, sort of like the Trudo Toren tower in Strijp-S.
• Apartments start at 405,000 euros for 57 meters² and roughly 1 million euros gets you a penthouse of 136 meters², or 1,500 square feet if you’re American.
District E
No completion dates
Work is beginning now (mid-August) on the construction of three towers at the Eindhoven Centraal train station. District E in Eindhoven is part of the dramatic redevelopment of area around the train station. Three new residential towers are planned, along with ground-level shops and restaurants. This is, by the way, just west of the train station and a different project than Lightyards.
The District E high-rise towers will be 170 meters, 110 meters and 76 meters tall, respectively. The towers will house about 450 apartments for sale or rent/buy. Underneath the buildings, a parking basement will have spaces for “part-time cars” and bicycles. Underneath the square in front of the station, another large bicycle basement will be built. The buildings are designed by Powerhouse company in cooperation with ZUS.
This will put a dozen high-rise towers within walking distance of each other.
Eurostaete
Leasing begins at the end of August
This is a big deal because Eurostaete is mostly affordable apartments. Based on agreements with the municipality of Eindhoven, they have a maximum monthly rent of 1,303.05 euros, and we’re assuming that includes the penthouses.
Located next to Philips Stadium and just south of Strijp S, Eurostaete is another multi-building project. It’s a residential tower and a low-rise building, this one with a total of 400 mid-range rental apartments, 479 in all, including social housing and larger units. More than 60 percent of the homes in “De Laagbouw” are offered as mid-range rental apartments.
• De Laagbouw (lower building) has 10 floors and 185 apartments ranging in size from about 40 meters² to 77 meters².
• De Toren (The Tower) will have 31 floors and houses 295 apartments. The apartments range from 30 meters² studios to penthouses of 117 meters².
The marketing people are pushing Eurostaete’s location, and it really is within walking distance of a lot both in centrum and Strijp-S. Which means units here are going to go quickly if they really are priced as “mid-range.”
Sierlijk Dames
Sales projected to start in early 2026
This “Graceful Ladies” project came out of nowhere … two funky towers with a total of 276 apartments. The units have an average living area of 65 meters². One tower will feature condominiums in the mid- and higher-end segments.
One tower will house about 138 “social housing” apartments for Trudo, the social-housing developer, and the other tower will house approximately 138 owner-occupied apartments, sold by Land’s-Heeren, according to Studio 040.
The project is across the railroad from Strijp-S in what, unless we’re wrong, is now a big park.
SPARK in Strijp S
Sales start later in 2025
SPARK is kinda cool because its location comes with views of Strijp-S and centrum. At least from the upper floors of this 12-floor building. And surprise … the 12th floor has three penthouses.
For the rest of us, there are 56 apartments, both two- and three-bedroom units.
SPARK has a sustainable, gas-free energy system that provides heating, cooling and hot tap water, along with:
- underfloor heating, in combination with high-quality insulation, heat recovery and insulating glass
- nearly Zero-Energy Construction principles, with a primary energy consumption that is at least 10-percent lower than the national new construction requirements
- underfloor cooling in all apartments to prevent heating in summer
- solar control glazing in all windows to limit overheating
We couldn’t find any information on prices but stay tuned because there’s so much going on in Strijp-S that we’ll do a post dedicated to options there.
TAC Living
Projected completion date is third quarter of 2026
TAC Living is kind of the opposite of Nieuw Bergen. All 249 units are “100 percent affordable.” The total includes 108 studios for younger residents with two bedrooms and an open kitchen, according to the website. They’ll range from 27 meters² to 46 meters², priced from 550,000 euros to 625,000 euros.
This is a public-private partnership to increase housing that includes ASML, Woonbedrijf and Huybregts Relou (VB Groep).
De Caai
This is the former Campina factory, once a large milk processing plant. De Caai aims to be all things to all people … five residential buildings with a variety of apartments, studios, townhouses and assisted living accommodations. And you can rent or you can buy.
This is on Eindhoven’s lone canal and has been under construction for some time.
Here are the units currently for sale. Prices range from about 300,000 euros to, well, how much you got?
The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse, yet another Strijp-S high rise, has 333 sustainable rental units ranging in size from 40 meters² to approximately 130m². Construction began in early 2022 and is projected to be completed 1 September. The Lighthouse developer bills the tower as “the tallest residential tower in Eindhoven.”
The Lighthouse is, as far as we can see, the only project with a dedicated expat tab, marketing move-in ready units to already stressed new arrivals.
Rental rates start at about 1,200 euros for studios and you can see what’s available here on an interactive graphic. Which is not a lot. Good to be a developer in Eindhoven.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
