Living & housing in Antwerp

What type of housing suits you?

There are a three types of student housing in Belgium: a regular dorm room, a studio dorm, or an apartment style dorm.

What's the difference between these types of housing?

A dorm room is the most standard option. You have a room to yourself, while the kitchen and bathroom are usually shared with other people in the house. All dorms in Belgium are equipped with at least a sink in the room. There are also rooms that have a personal bathroom attached. On average, a dorm room in the center of Antwerp costs around €440.
A studio dorm costs around €550 on average. This will get you a room with it’s own bathroom and kitchenette. As for furnishing, you can usually count on there being a bedframe, desk, bookcase/planks and sometimes even a couch. Some dorms offer the mattrass, others require you to bring your own. Check this in the description of the listing, or talk with the landlord.
If you prefer to live a bit more luxurious and spacious, you can choose to rent an apartment. The price of an apartment in Antwerp is between €600 and €1500 a month. You can search for your preferred apartment, indicating surface, region and other preferences via the website of Immoweb

The additional costs, like water and electricity, are usually not included in the rent. The landlord will charge a certain amount every month to cover these costs. At the end of your rental period, you can expect an invoice with your total consumption. If this is less then the paid amount, you will be recompensated. If you used more, you will be charged for this.

Take into account that most rooms have 12-month contracts. Some landlords are flexible with leaving dates, for example if you find another tenant. This is not a guarantee though so make sure you discuss this with your landlord.

Don’t forget to prepare for your one time rental deposit at the beginning of your term. The standard lease on Kotweb stipulates a one-month rental deposit, but some landlords may ask for up to two months.

If you don’t want to rent a dorm without having seen it before, you can choose to stay in a hostel on arrival and start looking around yourself.

In this case, we recommend coming before the start of the school year, in in August, so you have time to look around and meet with people face to face.

Through our student platform, Joinby, you can connect with current students and ask them to show their current housing, so you have a better idea of what to expect, or even check if you can take over their dorm or apartment once they leave. Or maybe you can already connect with new classmates and choose for a cohousing?

We kindly ask you to not contact the University of Antwerp for housing placement questions and instead reach out to us with your questions and concerns.

Let's get you started!

To get you started, we have consolidated some housing resources below. For your convenience, we do recommend you to search for a place close to AMS (located at Boogkeers 5, 2000 Antwerp).

Kotweb is the most obvious and trustworthy resource. They have the largest offer of student rooms in Antwerp., that meet the requirements regarding quality and (fire) safety, as imposed by the city of Antwerp. Besides, Kotweb uses the model contract, always trying to find the right balance between the tenant and landlord.

Alternative places to look:

• Xior (big name in student-housing in Belgium)

• Upkot (big name in student-housing in Belgium)

• STAN (an organisation for students that works with the City of Antwerp)

• Huur een Studentenkamer (require an appointment before renting)

• Ikot ( works with individual renters so we recommend a visit beforehand)

• Diplodocus Rex: Student Housing

• Kot 4 A (require an appointment before renting)

• Kot Campus Spoor Noord (website only in dutch)

• Kot Natie (website only in dutch)

• Studentenkamers in Antwerpen (Scaldis) (reachable on social media)

Facebook Groups

These groups don't belong to any organisation. They are individuals who are looking for people to take over their existing contract or are private owners who are looking for renters on their own.

• Kot in Antwerpen!!!

• Koten en Appartementen in Antwerpen

• Woningen te huur Antwerpen

Stay safe while looking for a place to live!

We would like it to be different, but sadly enough even Antwerp has some people ruining the fun for everyone. Check out this anti-fraud list by Kotweb.

If you don’t want to rent a room in advance and prefer to look for one upon your arrival, we advise you to book a room in a youth hostel or a low budget hotel for the first nights of your stay in Antwerp. We recommend:

• Citybox Hotels (15% discount for AMS students – Discount code: AMS 2024)

• Ash Antwerp

• A-Stay

• Yust

• Numa Opera Antwerp (15% discount for AMS students through corporate@numastays.com)

Hostel World also offers a great overview of hostels to choose from.