Open House Day attracts more than 66,000 people

The Open House Day of real estate agency NVM attracted more than 66,000 visitors on Saturday. That is more than the 55,000 home viewers at the last event in October. According to the brokers, this indicates that there is still great interest in moving, despite or perhaps thanks to the cooling housing market.

Visitors were able to view the houses without any obligation and without an appointment. A total of around 13,500 homeowners opened the doors of their houses. That was over 20 percent more than at the last Open House Day. The asking prices of the participating houses ranged from 119,500 to almost 3 million euros.

The real estate market has cooled in the last six months due to the sharp rise in mortgage rates. This has been offset by lower home prices. The NVM will release new housing market figures shortly. The organization's latest quarterly figures, released in January, showed that home sales prices in the Netherlands fell by an average of 6.4 percent in the final quarter of last year compared with a year earlier. According to the organization, this was the first year-over-year decline in nine years. As a result, the NVM called it a "tipping point."

"Housing supply is much broader, more diverse and well distributed across the country. This offers opportunities for sellers and buyers," said NVM board member Chris van Zantwijk, who was responsible for organizing the Open House event. He looks back on the event with "satisfaction" given the number of participants.