Bottom of Housing Market in Sight

House prices are still decreasing, but not as fast as in 2012. However, the bottom of the market is in sight. NVM, the biggest broker organization in the Netherlands, announced on Thursday that the average price of a house is now 206 thousand euro, 5.5 percent lower than a year ago. The number of houses sold in the first quarter of 2013 decreased by 30.3 percent compared to the last quarter of 2012, and is the lowest number in five years. The reason for the decrease was the high increase in purchases because of the government announcement about the limitation in mortgage interest deduction from the 1st of January. AD.nl reported that according to NVM Chairman, Ger Hukker, there were signs that the bottom of the market was close. “The affordability of buying compared to renting houses is increasing and the offer and selling time of houses is stable.”