In 1896 Amsterdam resolved to stop selling municipal land and instead grant it on ground lease (erfpacht), so that the community rather than private speculators would capture rising land values as the city expanded. The original 1896 conditions set fixed terms of 75 years; from 1915 the city moved to continuously renewable leases. Ground rents are periodically reset to land value, making erfpacht a recurring source of municipal revenue and a lever over development. In 2017 the city introduced a perpetual lease (eeuwigdurende erfpacht) allowing leaseholders to fix or buy off the rent.
Amsterdam's ground lease is a long-running instrument of public land-value capture and municipal control over urban land, often cited in debates on land policy.
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