De Venen, Den Haag

Living in De Venen

De Venen is urban but not overwhelming, and the stock is a genuine mix of apartments and family houses (37% houses).

At 5,346 residents per km² the buurt is busy without being packed.

Den Haag combines government and expat demand — ministries, embassies, international courts and Shell — with one of the widest price ranges of any Dutch city: stately streets near the dunes at one end, dense and affordable neighborhoods a couple of kilometers inland at the other.

The housing market in De Venen

At €376,000 average WOZ value, De Venen ranks 54 out of 110 Den Haag neighborhoods on price, almost exactly the city's midpoint. For scale: Den Haag's cheapest buurt averages €82,000 and its most expensive €919,000, so De Venen sits in the middle band of the city.

The direction of the market: between 2015 and 2025 the average WOZ value here rose from €180,000 to €424,000, up 136% — faster than the city as a whole (+125%). WOZ values lag the market by about a year, but the trend itself is reliable.

Here is the catch for buyers: only 32% of homes are owner-occupied, and 56% of the stock is social housing that never reaches the open market. Few homes come up for sale, so when one does, expect competition and act fast on viewings. The upside of the same number: neighborhoods with a big rental base tend to feel lively and transient rather than settled — decide which you want before you fall for a listing.

Who lives here

Demographically, De Venen is a young-adult neighborhood — the 25-to-45 group outnumbers everyone else (37% of its 1,800 residents), followed by children under 15 at 24%. 44% of households have children at home, so expect school runs, playgrounds in use, and neighbors who stay put. The average household counts 2.3 people.

As for who your neighbors would be: incomes skew modest — 36% of households are in the lower national bracket.

Daily errands, coffee and dinner

Day to day: plan your groceries: the nearest large supermarket is 1.8 km away; dining out means a short trip: only 2 cafés or restaurants sit within a kilometer.

The practical checklist most buyers forget to make: pharmacy 14 min walk · GP 14 min · hospital 6.0 km · library 2.1 km. None of these will decide a purchase on their own, but a GP taking new patients nearby is the kind of thing you only miss after moving.

Families and schools

For families: the nearest primary school is 14 minutes on foot; daycare is 0.2 km away — check waiting lists early, they are long everywhere in the Netherlands; secondary school is a 5-minute bike ride, which Dutch teenagers do in all weather.

Getting around

Getting around: the train station is 7 minutes on foot — commuting without a car is the natural choice; a highway on-ramp 1.2 km away makes car trips easy — check whether through-traffic noise reaches the street you're considering; car ownership is moderate (0.9 per household).

Energy and running costs

With 100% of homes built after 2000, insulation standards here are decent by default — but newer also means VvE service costs for apartments and less room to add value through renovation. Different math, not automatically better.

Before you bid in De Venen

Before you bid in De Venen: listings are scarce here, which pushes bidding above asking more often — decide your maximum before the viewing, not during it. Also, family neighborhoods like this one turn over slowly; when a good house appears it often goes to the first serious, well-prepared bidder.

None of these averages can tell you whether the specific house you found is fairly priced — that depends on its size, energy label, state of maintenance and the recent sales around it. That is exactly what a free HomeReview report checks, in about 10 seconds, for any Dutch address.

Frequently asked questions

Similar neighborhoods in Den Haag

Closest in price — worth a look if De Venen is out of reach or you want alternatives.