Renting an Apartment in Tilburg
Where locomotive sheds are now lofts and a cargo port became a waterfront district.
Tilburg's rental housing page covers family-friendly neighborhoods like De Blaak, Berkel-Enschot, and the Reeshof. This page focuses on a different part of the city: the places where apartments define the streetscape. And in Tilburg, these are remarkably often places with a second life. Former factories, an abandoned railway workshop, a silted-up cargo port. Tilburg has a history of converting industrial heritage into residential spaces, resulting in apartments you won't find anywhere else in Brabant.
Apartments in Tilburg
With over 230,000 inhabitants (2025), Tilburg is the seventh-largest city in the Netherlands. Its train station is a hub: fifteen minutes to Breda, eighteen to Den Bosch, twenty-two to Eindhoven. This accessibility makes the city attractive to commuters, and rental prices are consistently lower than in the Randstad. Those considering renting an apartment in Tilburg can choose from industrial lofts, new construction along the water, upstairs apartments in the city center, and post-war complexes in the surrounding neighborhoods. Below is a tour of the districts where the apartment supply is concentrated.
De Spoorzone: Living Next to the World's Best Library
The former NS workshop site next to Tilburg Central station is undergoing the city's largest transformation. On the grounds where locomotives were maintained for decades, over 2,100 homes are being built. Some are already complete. De Brabander, a seventeen-story tower with 162 rental apartments, overlooks the tracks. The Clarissentoren, with approximately 270 apartments, was recently completed. The Stadshof offers more compact living spaces.
What makes the Spoorzone special is the combination of monumental industrial halls and sleek new construction. The LocHal, the former locomotive shed that was named the world's best public library in 2019, is located in the heart of the area. Three hundred workplaces, exhibition space, a city cafe. It is the living room of the neighborhood. The apartments in the Spoorzone are predominantly compact: studios and one-bedroom apartments between 35 and 50 square meters, aimed at first-time renters and young professionals. Towards 2030, larger homes will be added, including a residential tower that will change Tilburg's skyline.
€1,550 / month
€1,350 / month
€1,145 / month
€1,095 / month
€1,630 / month
€1,574 / month
Piushaven: Apartments by a Harbor Reborn
The Piushaven was once a cargo port where ships laden with wool and textiles docked. In the second half of the twentieth century, the harbor lost its function and the area fell into disrepair. Since 2005, it has been gradually transformed into an urban waterfront residential area. The result: approximately 450 homes, predominantly apartments, spread across striking complexes along the quayside.
Spinaker, the latest project, delivers 156 homes on Havendijk, including a residential tower with penthouses and an inner garden. Wolstad, a smaller complex of twenty spacious apartments, is directly on the harbor quay. Het Tapijthuis, a former retail building, has been transformed into eight apartments with a penthouse on the roof. The surrounding neighborhood has also changed: waterside terraces, restaurants, concept stores. Piushaven is the kind of neighborhood where you drink coffee on Sunday morning with a view of moored boats. The apartments are larger and more expensive than in the Spoorzone, attracting a different demographic: double-income earners, couples without children, people who want to combine space and water.
The City Center: Upstairs Apartments with the City at Your Feet
Tilburg's city center is compact. Heuvelstraat is the main shopping street, music venue 013 is within walking distance, and the Piushaven and Spoorzone border the city center. Living in the center means living above the city: most apartments here are upstairs units above shops and hospitality establishments. Characteristic buildings, often with high ceilings and narrow stairwells, sometimes with a balcony overlooking Piusplein or Oude Markt.
Availability is more limited than in the new development areas. Not much new construction is happening in the city center, and existing homes change tenants less frequently. Corvellaar is one of the few new construction projects in the core area. Those who want to live here need patience and must react quickly when something becomes available. The advantage: everything is within walking distance. The station is five minutes away, the supermarket downstairs, the pub around the corner.
Oud-Noord and Hoefstraat: The Neighborhood That Never Sleeps
Oud-Noord is located between the ring roads and the railway line, north of the center. It is one of Tilburg's most diverse neighborhoods, both in population and in buildings. Apartments range from pre-war upstairs units to post-war gallery flats. Rental prices are lower than in the city center or the Spoorzone, making the neighborhood attractive to first-time renters and students.
Hoefstraat and Groeseind form the heart of the neighborhood. Dozens of cuisines from all over the world are located here side-by-side: Surinamese, Turkish, Japanese, Ethiopian. It's the street where Tilburg residents go to eat when they don't feel like choosing. The Theresia-buurt, a little further west, is Tilburg's classic student district, within cycling distance of the university. Here you'll find shared housing and smaller apartments, but also independent one-bedroom apartments for those who have just graduated and want to stay nearby.
Apartments Price Breakdown in Tilburg
| Bedrooms | Average | Median | Price Range | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | €828 | €842 | €510 - €1,135 | 0 / 23 |
1 | €1,239 | €1,250 | €653 - €1,950 | 15 |
2 | €1,393 | €1,405 | €961 - €2,550 | 13 |
3 | €1,979 | €1,780 | €1,480 - €2,800 | 2 |
4+ | €1,417 | €1,400 | €1,350 - €1,500 | 0 / 3 |
Korvel: Affordable and Unpolished
Korvel, in Oud-Zuid, is the neighborhood you recommend to people who want to live centrally without paying central prices. The neighborhood has an unpolished charm: no designer shops, but a baker who has been on the same corner for thirty years. The apartments are a mix of private rental homes and post-war complexes. The neighborhood is within walking distance of music venue 013 and has its own parks.
Korvel is not a neighborhood that appears in glossy city magazines, but it is a neighborhood where you can find an independent apartment with a more modest budget, ten minutes by bike from the station. The atmosphere is multicultural and informal. For those who find the center too expensive and the Spoorzone too new, Korvel is the logical alternative.
From Wool to Living
In the nineteenth century, Tilburg had over a hundred textile factories. The transformation of this industrial heritage provides living space that you won't find anywhere else. Lofts in former spinning mills, apartments in old warehouses, a library in a locomotive shed. The city not only builds new but reuses what was already there.
Piushaven as a Laboratory
The redevelopment of the Piushaven is nationally regarded as an example of successful area transformation. From an abandoned industrial harbor to a vibrant waterfront district in two decades. The mix of living, hospitality, and culture along the water attracts a public who would look to the canals in other cities.
Compact City, Short Distances
The city center, the Spoorzone, the Piushaven, and Oud-Noord are all within a two-kilometer radius of the station. Those who rent an apartment in one of these neighborhoods have the rest of the city within cycling distance. This makes Tilburg as an apartment city clear: you don't have to choose between accessibility and character.
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