Housing prices start year on the rise

The prices of existing private homes sold in the Netherlands were 2.1 percent higher in January 2015 than in the same month last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported Friday. The average price of existing homes in January 2015 was about as high as in mid-2003. Despite the rise, the number of registered house sales in January reached 9,437, constituting a six percent rise from January 2014. Housing prices in have been higher than a year earlier in each of the last ten consecutive months. Following a drop in June 2013, a slight upwards slope has been maintained. The current prices are 18.6 percent lower than the housing price peak in August 2008.