The Netherlands is taxing its investors away. Why, and what happens when the money leaves?

Jan de Quay ran Savills in the Netherlands for 19 years, after 11 years at Jones Lang. We talk about rising taxes, government spending, investors moving elsewhere, a property market stuck between buyers and sellers, and why Jan thinks a slow crisis can be worse than a crash.

We also get into Amsterdam's finances, where he would put money today, AI risk, European politics, China and what the Netherlands could look like in ten years.

Chapters

00:00 From running Savills to walking away at 60

03:40 A slow crisis, not a 2008 crash

05:08 A government that cannot pass anything

06:52 The Dutch market everyone wanted to own

08:02 A 10.4% transfer tax and the end of FBI status

09:50 Why nothing gets built

10:35 The new rent band from 900 to 1,250 euros

12:26 Box 3 explained

14:05 75,000 rental homes gone in two years

15:36 Everybody loses and nobody changes it

17:19 Are the Dutch actually leaving?

19:39 Amsterdam's 300 communication advisers

20:42 The country our children inherit

24:16 Are owners finally selling?

25:02 An 80 million office, offers at 62

26:25 Sell, or hand the keys back

27:02 Why office to residential rarely works

28:49 Which Dutch cities still trade

31:27 Waiting for the crisis that unlocks the market

34:38 Why Jan avoids offices now

35:13 The AI danger zone

37:00 The case for secondary retail

40:43 Amsterdam is technically broke

41:27 Where are we in ten years?

47:00 Cynicism or realism?