NL home prices up 13%; Biggest increase in 20 years

Home prices in the Netherlands increased by 12.9 percent in May, compared to the same month last year. That is the strongest increase since April 2001, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday.

It's been clear for months that the coronavirus crisis had the opposite effect than the expected crash in house prices. Owner-occupied home prices in the Netherlands have only increased since the start of the crisis.

Possible reasons for this include the many economic support measures, the fact that the catering and entertainment industries were closed for large parts of the year, and travel restrictions making vacations difficult to impossible. As a result, people had more money left over to spend on a home.

Compared to the low point on the Dutch housing market in June 2013, home prices in the Netherlands are now 66.8 percent higher.

Fewer homes did change ownership in May than the same month last year. A total of 16,126 existing owner-occupied homes were sold last month, a decrease of 12 percent. In the first five months of this year, 101,707 homes changed hands, an increase of 14.6 percent compared to the same period last year.