Dutch house prices have risen sharply again, no sign of corona dip

Dutch house prices continue to rise sharply, despite the corona crisis. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), buying a home was almost 9 percent more expensive in November than at the same time last year. In October, house prices reached their highest point in nearly two years.

The average sales price for a house last month was 344,217 euros. This was only slightly lower than the amount in October when the average price was just a little over 350,000 euros. A total of 18,449 housing transactions were registered, one percent more than the previous year.

The housing market continues to struggle with an extreme shortage. The range of properties that are up for sale has shrunk considerably, while many people still want to buy a house. Additionally, the low mortgage interest rates make buying attractive. As a result, competition is fierce among buyers, and first-time homeowners face great difficulty obtaining any property.

Until now, there has been no sight of any corona dip in the housing market, as many economists had initially expected. Estate agency NVM has recently predicted that house prices will probably continue to rise significantly in the near future. However, experts at ING disagree. Last week, they stated that next year house prices are likely to fall for the first time in five years. “First, the number of home sales will fall because people postpone their move due to rising unemployment and lower confidence,” explained ING economist Mirjam Bani. After that, according to her, a slight price dip will probably follow.