Slight rise in Dutch home prices after months of decrease

Home prices rose again in the past month. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), owner-occupied homes cost 0.2 percent more in June than a month earlier. Prices fell in the previous four months.

Since the peak in the middle of last year, homes have become rapidly cheaper. Despite the slight upturn, prices are now 5.5 percent lower than one year previously. Due to rising mortgage rates, home buyers can now borrow less, which depresses home prices. A provisional low point now seems to have been reached. Compared to the low in June 2013, home prices were still over 87 percent higher last month.

In June, homes also changed hands more often, according to figures from the Land Registry. The number of residential units sold was 6 percent higher than twelve months earlier. That’s the first increase this year. Over the first half of 2023, home sales were 7 percent lower on an annual basis.

The Duch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM) reported earlier this month that the housing market seems to be rebounding. According to figures from brokers, an average owner-occupied home cost 410,000 euros in the past quarter, 2.8 percent more than in the first quarter of 2023. That was almost 9 percent less than a year earlier.

The NVM figures are more incomplete but are based on the moment the purchase contract is sine. That is earlier than the CBS, meaning realtors often identify trends sooner. CBS only processes house sales when the civil-law notaries have registered them with the Land Registry.

Paul Hilbers, the Dutch administrator of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), already warned in April against an overly gloomy view of the housing market. At that time, prices were still falling sharply. But he told ANP that the decline would probably end at some point. Hilbers stressed that there is still a housing shortage in the Netherlands. A lower supply than demand can push house prices higher.