Housing recovery is making progress: Rabobank

The housing market will pick up further next year, according to Rabobank. The bank predicts that the house prices and number of homes sold will increase slightly. Rabobank expects house prices to increase with between 1.5 and 3.5 percent next year, compared to 2014. The number of homes sold will be between 145 thousand and 165 thousand. For this year the growth is expected to reach 1 percent and the number of transactions 145 thousand. The bank is fairly optimistic, despite the cuts of the gift exemption and the starter loan. Positive factors are the economic recovery, higher consumer confidence and low mortgage rates. "In our eyes these factors have a stronger impact than the negative developments." says Pieter van Dalen, housing economis of Rabobank.