Home prices still rising, despite coronavirus crisis

According to realtors' association NVM, the coronavirus crisis so far had little to no impact on the Dutch housing market. In the second quarter of this year, home prices on average increased by 8.8 percent year-on-year. That is slightly less than the 9.6 percent price increase in the first quarter, but still substantial, NOS reports.

An average home in the Netherlands now costs 335 thousand euros. 52 percent of homes were sold above asking price last quarter. The number of sales dropped slightly, by 4 percent compared to the second quarter of 2019. And realtors noticed that fewer people view a home than before, but there is still a large shortage on the housing market, NVM said.

"Although there are fewer buyers in absolute terms, people are still outbidding to get the desired home," a spokesperson for NVM said to NOS. "Now that there is less interest from investors and expats, starters and [people moving to a bigger home] have more opportunities."

According to the NVM, there is not much to the belief that the coronavirus crisis triggered a large migration from the city to the countryside, where people have more space. "We have further investigated this claim and conclude that corona may have reinforced this development, but it is not new. Since 2013, we have seen a slight increase in the number of people moving from the Randstad to provinces like Gelderland, Drenthe and Friesland."

One effect the coronavirus did have on the housing market was a sharp increase in buyers' demand for an extra room, a balcony, or a garden, the realtors' association said.