Netherlands' home sales up 26 percent

A total of 11,907 homes were sold in the Netherlands in January, according to figures released by the Land Registry on Wednesday. That is an increase of 26.2 percent compared to January 2015, ANP reports. Home sales increased in across all provinces. The growth was the strongest in Utrecht, with a 37 percent increase, and lowest in Flevoland with 11.6 percent. The number of sales increased across all types of housing. Detached houses increased the most with almost 35 percent. Corner house-sales showed the lowest increase with 15 percent. The number of mortgages increased by 18.7 percent compared to January last year. When compared to December, however, the number of home sales decreased by 44.8 percent. In December the Land Registry registered an extreme number of sold homes - 21,566. The number of mortgages fell by 42.7 percent in January compared to December.