Four in 10 Dutch homes now carry top energy labels

More than 2.2 million homes in the Netherlands had an energy label of A or higher in 2025, meaning four in 10 homes with a known label now meet the country’s highest standards for energy efficiency, according to an analysis by ANP of data from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

The figure shows a steep increase compared with 2024, when almost 2 million homes carried the highest sustainability rating. Energy labels measure how energy-efficient a property is, on a scale from A, indicating very low energy use, to G, the least efficient.

Homes with an A label typically feature strong insulation and sustainable technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels, or double glazing. About 3 percent of homes with an energy label fall into category G, making them the least energy-efficient dwellings in the country.

Existing homes can move into a higher category if owners make sustainability upgrades. Newly built homes automatically receive an energy label of A or higher. As a result, municipalities with large amounts of new construction have a relatively high share of energy-efficient housing, including Almere, Pijnacker-Nootdorp and Lansingerland.

By contrast, Limburg and Zeeland have the smallest proportion of homes with the highest energy labels. In both provinces, roughly one-third of homes hold an energy label of A or higher.

Since 2022, sellers have been legally required to provide a definitive energy label when selling a home. By 2025, about two-thirds of all homes in the Netherlands had a valid energy label on record.