Netherlands in top 4 EU countries with fastest rising home prices

The Netherlands is one of the European Union’s leading countries when it comes to increasing house prices. According to data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the European statistical office Eurostat, housing prices only increased more in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Hungary.

House prices in the Netherlands rose on average by 19.5 percent compared to the first quarter of last year. That puts the Netherlands in fourth place in the ranking of EU countries. The Czech Republic came first with an increase of almost 25 percent. In Estonia and Hungary, home prices rose by about 21 percent. That is all considerably more than the European average of plus 10.5 percent.

CBS and the Land Registry also published figures on house prices in May. Then prices were still rising, but not as much as earlier this year. Existing owner-occupied homes were 18.8 percent more expensive in May than in the same month last year.

Real estate agency NVM noted last week that the number of houses for sale in the Netherlands increased significantly in recent months. In addition, the rise in house prices is slowing down, the real estate agents concluded based on their own figures. According to the NVM, the developments make it easier for home seekers to obtain a home, although the housing supply is still fairly limited. Mortgage interest rates are also rising, and the amount people can borrow is therefore decreasing. According to NVM, the housing market will only really calm down when more homes are built.

Home sale platform Funda also noticed that competition among home seekers is declining in most provinces. Funda figures show that the number of responses per home decreased by 3 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of this year. At the same time, the number of homes available for sale increased by 68 percent.

“In the past quarter, we saw something happening in the overheated housing market: a slight drop in temperature,” said Funda CEO Joost Dop. “Demand is still much greater than supply. However, the number of available homes has increased so much that the demand no longer causes extreme competition among home buyers.”