De Vector

Funderingsloket receives almost four times as many reports

New figures point to growing concerns among residents, but do not measure confirmed damage.

The national Funderingsloket received 280 per cent more reports between 1 July and 14 October 2026 than in the same period last year. This is according to an analysis published on 15 October by the Kenniscentrum Aanpak Funderingsproblematiek (KCAF), available through FunderConsult. The rise coincides with drought, but does not show how many homes actually have foundation damage.

The increase means that the number of reports in the period examined was 3.8 times as high as a year earlier. The number also rose sharply in 2025: it was then 276 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024. The new comparison therefore covers two successive increases, each measured from July to mid-October. These are reports from residents about issues including cracks, tilting and subsidence.

KCAF does not publish absolute numbers in this analysis. The percentages therefore do not reveal how many homes the reports concern. Nor do they show how many reports resulted in foundation damage being confirmed following investigation. FunderConsult, which helped make the analysis possible, also states that general enquiries are excluded from the count. The percentages thus describe a defined set of records, rather than a nationwide inventory of damaged homes.

Awareness of the service also influences the outcome. If more owners know where to turn, more reports may come in without damage increasing in the same proportion. Vastgoed Business School, which discussed the figures on Friday, therefore stresses the distinction between a report and a confirmed defect. The records may prompt further investigation, but do not replace it.

There is, however, a technical explanation for why drought poses a risk to certain foundations. In July, TNO described how land subsidence and low groundwater levels make older foundations on soft soils vulnerable. Timber pile foundations can be affected by pile rot or sinking soil. With shallow foundations, also known in Dutch as ‘funderingen op staal’, uneven settlement can cause damage. The underlying ground and the way a building is founded are decisive factors.

TNO also points to clay layers that respond to changes in groundwater levels. This means that examining only the visible building is insufficient to establish a cause. A crack may be a sign, but on its own it does not reveal which process is taking place beneath a home. The technical background explains why drought deserves attention; it does not prove that every new report was caused by the dry summer.

A separate publication by Fundering.help highlights the same limitation. That platform also collects reports of visible damage through its own postcode checks, but explicitly states that these do not constitute a representative sample of homes in the Netherlands. Participants report what they see themselves; this has not automatically been assessed by an expert. Such data must therefore not be added to the service's figures as though they were separate, confirmed cases of damage.

For owners and property managers, the significance of the figures lies primarily in the growing need for clarity. Vastgoed Business School links the development to building maintenance and investigation. However, a nationwide percentage increase cannot reveal which remedial measures are needed. Information about the specific home remains necessary for that. The new figures substantiate a sharp rise in the number of reports, while the extent and causes of the actual damage require further investigation.

Respond to this article

← Back to the edition