Amsterdam home prices leap 10 percent; still below pre-crisis level

Home prices in Amsterdam increased by 9.7 percent last year, though the prices are still 3.6 percent below what they were before the crisis in 2008, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands and the Land Registry on Thursday. Last week the Dutch Association of Estate Agents and Valuers announced that Amsterdam house prices increased by 17 percent in the last quarter of 2014. In December house prices in the Netherlands were 3.2 percent more expensive than in the same month in 2014. The housing market has been showing a strong recover for some time, with house prices increasing since mid-2013. November had the larges house price increase in seven years in the Netherlands. The national price level is now back on the level of February 2004. Compared to the low point in June 2013, house prices increased with 6.4 percent, though the prices are still 16.4 percent lower than when the housing market reached its peak in August 2008.