Amsterdam home prices reach record high as market recovery continues

Existing home prices in Amsterdam continue to skyrocket as the housing market in the Netherlands recovers. In the second quarter of this year, existing home prices in the Dutch capital were almost 15 percent higher than the same time last year and about 7 percent higher than when the housing market reached its peak in 2008, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Thursday. Amsterdam is also the only city in the Netherlands where housing prices are back above p re-financial crisis levels. The Dutch capital is also the most popular city in the Netherlands for home buyers. In the second quarter almost 1 billion euros worth of homes were sold in Amsterdam - almost equal to the 1.1 billion euros worth of homes sold in the other three major cities together. The rest of the Netherlands is also feeling the effect of the housing market recovery. In the second quarter of this year, the price of existing homes increased in all regions compared to the same quarter last year. The second quarter saw the largest price increase in the Netherlands since the housing crisis in 2008. Home prices increased most in the four large cities of the Netherlands. The other three large cities - Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam - also saw above national average increases in their housing prices. Mostly due to home price developments in the four major cities, the price increases in the Randstad provinces were much higher than the rest of the Netherlands. Home prices were 7 percent more expensive in Noord-Holland than in the second quarter last year. In the provinces of Utrecht and Zuid-Holland prices increased by almost 6 and 5 percent respectively. The other provinces saw much smaller price increases. The smallest increase was in Zeeland, where housing prices increased with less than 1 percent compared to the same quarter last year.