Renting a Home in Ommen

The Vecht river flows right through Ommen. The small river originates in Germany, bends north at the town, and eventually flows into the Zwarte Water near Zwolle. Along its banks are floodplains, hay meadows, and deciduous forests. South of Ommen begins the sandy landscape: the Besthmenerberg with its sand drifts, the heathlands of Lemelerberg, the forests of Junne and Vilsteren. It is one of the few parts of the Netherlands where you can look out from a hill over an undeveloped horizon.

The municipality has about 19,300 residents (2025), spread across the town of Ommen and fourteen hamlets. Arriën, Beerze, Vilsteren, Lemele, Junne, Stegeren: names that sound like what they are, small residential centers in the rural areas. Ommen itself is the only center with a town center, a train station, and a concentration of amenities. Anyone considering renting a home in Ommen chooses a place where nature is the first thing you see when you look outside in the morning. The downside is a rental market that is small and moves quickly. More than two-thirds of the homes in the municipality are owner-occupied. What becomes available in the free sector is limited in number and often gone within days.

The Center and the Zeeheldenbuurt

The core of Ommen is compact. The Markt, the Brugstraat, and the Voorbrug over the Vecht form its heart. Shops, restaurants, a library, the weekly market on Tuesdays. It's the kind of center you can walk through in ten minutes and meet everyone. The architecture is mixed: old buildings along the Markt, interwar homes on the edges, and here and there a newer accent.

The Zeeheldenbuurt, east of the center, is one of Ommen's most striking neighborhoods. The streets are named after naval heroes and admirals, and the houses date from the interwar period. It is a small neighborhood with its own character, included in the Canon of the Netherlands as an example of social housing from that era. The homes are modest in size, with small front gardens and narrow streets. For tenants who want to live in the center, the immediate vicinity of the Markt and the Zeeheldenbuurt is the most logical search area.

Detached bungalow surrounded by greenery

€1,195 / month

Hammerweg 40, Ommen

61 m²

In consultation

Detached House

Laarakkers and De Strangen: the Expansion Ring of the Sixties

Around the old center are the neighborhoods Ommen built in the post-war decades. Laarakkers, on the west side, and De Strangen, on the north side, date from the 1960s and early 1970s. Together, they comprise over twelve hundred homes. Terraced houses and semi-detached homes on spacious plots, with driveways and backyards. The streets are wide, the planting mature, the atmosphere quiet.

These are neighborhoods built for families with a car and a garden. That profile still holds true. The houses are not large by contemporary standards, but the plots are. The construction year means varying insulation and sometimes outdated kitchens and bathrooms, but also lower rental prices than in newer parts of the village. For tenants seeking space without a new-build budget, Laarakkers and De Strangen are the search areas.

Dante: the Green Neighborhood with Water

West of the core lies Dante, built from the 1970s onwards. The neighborhood distinguishes itself from earlier expansions by its design: small-scale residential units around water features and green strips. It is a 'stempelwijk' (a type of uniform development), but one that feels more spacious than the label suggests. The water structure gives the neighborhood an openness that Laarakkers lacks.

Dante has over twelve hundred homes. A mix of terraced houses, semi-detached homes, and low-rise apartments. The neighborhood has its own primary school and is within cycling distance of the center and the station. Greenery is everywhere: along the waterways, in the inner gardens, on the wide green belts between the residential units. For those who want to combine Ommen's village feel with a neighborhood that feels more like a systematically designed area, Dante is the most obvious part of the village.

Arriën-Ommen: 375 Homes on the Southern Edge

Between the core of Ommen and the hamlet of Arriën, the municipality's largest new development site is being prepared. The plan provides for 375 homes, divided into social housing, mid-range rentals, affordable owner-occupied, and free-sector properties. The municipal council adopted the area vision in 2025. It is the first major expansion in years for a municipality that built little for a long time.

For the rental market, Arriën-Ommen is relevant because it adds new supply to a market that is structurally small. The first homes will be completed in the coming years. Those currently searching and wishing to remain in the region can monitor developments around Arriën. The area is within cycling distance of the center and the station, and borders the open landscape of the Vechtdal.

Hamlets and Rural Areas: Living Outside the Core

Half of the municipality of Ommen consists of rural areas. Vilsteren, with its estate and manor house, is five kilometers south of the town. Junne, on the Vecht, is a handful of farms and houses on a bend in the river. Lemele, at the foot of the Lemelerberg, has a church, a community center, and views of the heath. These are places where you live amidst meadows and forest plots, with a car or bicycle as your connection to the world.

Rental homes in the rural areas are rare. They are usually detached houses or farms rented out privately. They don't always appear on common platforms. Anyone looking for a home in the rural area relies on local networks and patience. The reward is space and quiet that you won't find within the core.

Renting a home in Ommen means searching in a small market. What becomes available goes quickly. Make sure income verification and identity documents are ready, set up a search alert for new listings, and don't limit yourself to one neighborhood. Laarakkers and Dante more often offer rental homes than the Villapark or the rural area. And keep an eye on Arriën-Ommen: the first major expansion in years will soon add new supply to a market that desperately needs it.