Covid impact on housing market: more homes sold, higher prices

The coronavirus crisis' impact on the Dutch housing market was that more homes were sold and at higher prices, according to an analysis of housing market figures from March 2020 to February 2021 by the Land Registry. Both the number of homes sold and home prices broke records in the past year, NOS reports.

Almost 224 thousand homes changed ownership last year, 12 percent more than in 2019 and breaking the 2017 record. Home prices were over 10 percent higher than a year ago.

The number of young home buyers under the age of 35 in particular increased, jumping 15 percent compared to 2019. According to Paul de Vries of the Land Registry, these are mainly starters from the previous crisis, who then bought a relatively cheap home and are now using money they saved to move on to usually bigger and more expensive homes.

The number of young buyers decreased late last year and spiked in January 2021. According to the Land Registry, first-time buyers postponed the transfer of their new home to January so that they did not have to pay transfer tax, which fell away for starters at the start of this year.

The number of homes bought and sold late in 2020 was still high, as private investors rushed their purchases to avoid their transfer tax, which increased from 2 to 8 percent in January.

In the corona year, home prices were still pushed by a higher demand than supply. The low mortgage interest rate and economic support measures also pushed prices.