Official home valuations rise to highest prices ever

The official valuations of Dutch homes, called the WOZ value in the Netherlands, increased for the fourth consecutive year. On January 1st, the average home in the Netherlands was worth 248 thousand euros, 7.8 percent more than in 2018. That is both the highest price ever and the biggest increase in years, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday.

Rotterdam saw the biggest increase this year. The price of the average home in Rotterdam increased by 16 percent from 166 thousand to 192 thousand euros. Amsterdam, which had the biggest increase last year, saw the price of its average homes increase by over 11 percent to 378 thousand euros. The average home in Amsterdam is now 64 percent more expensive than it was in 2014, according to the stats office.

Homes in Bloemendaal are most expensive - the average home there has a WOZ value of 695 thousand euros. Delfzijl is cheapest, with the average home valued at 127 thousand euros.

Per province, Zuid- and Noord-Holland saw the biggest increases in WOZ value, thanks to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. In Zuid-Holland home values increased by almost 11 percent to 237 thousand euros on average. Noord-Holland is up 10 percent to 318 thousand euros. Groningen saw the lowest increase - plus 0.6 percent to 166 thousand euros.

The WOZ value is the municipal assessment of what your house is worth. This value is about a year behind the actual price, because homes are taxed on January 1st based on their value on January 1st the year before.