Dutch leasing market contracts 9.5% in Q2 2025

The Dutch leasing market for business assets contracted sharply in the second quarter of 2025, with new lease production falling by nearly 10% year-on-year.

Figures from Leasing Nederland-NVL show that the volume of new lease contracts dropped to €1.7 billion, down 9.5% compared to Q2 2024 and 15.2% lower than the first quarter of this year. On a half-year basis, €3.8 billion in contracts were issued in the first six months of 2025, a 4.4% decline from the same period last year and 6% lower than the second half of 2024.

The slump comes despite leasing’s strong role as a financing tool for SMEs, which account for more than 75% of all contracts.

Marcel Spijkers, chairman of Leasing Nederland-NVL, pointed to specific market factors behind the decline:

“Just think of the decline in van sales this year, which is the result of the abolition of the BPM exemption. Entrepreneurs chose to purchase a new van in 2024 to avoid the BPM. We are also seeing a decline in the very large tickets, which are portfolios of objects financed by leasing companies, as opposed to the usual contracts with which only one object is leased. As a result, you quickly miss out on more than a hundred million in volume.”

Despite the drop in volume, NVL officials stressed that demand for leasing remains resilient.

Secretary Peter-Jan Bentein said: “The fundamentals of the leasing market remain healthy. If we look at the number of contracts that have been issued, we see exactly the same number as the previous quarter.

“So roughly speaking, the same number of companies are still served by leasing. So we have to be careful about attributing the decline in volume to postponement of investments by companies.”

The NVL also highlighted positive signs: the banking channel gained volume for the first time in some time, while direct sales by leasing companies also increased.