Overbidding in Dutch housing market: Two-thirds of homes sold above asking price

Overbidding is again the norm in the Dutch housing market. In the second quarter, two-thirds of homes sold above the asking price. Of homes in the affordable segment, with prices up to 405,000 euros, almost 70 percent sold for more than they were listed, the Telegraaf reports based on figures from the housing platform Huispedia.

In the second quarter, buyers bid an average of 4.1 percent above the asking price, compared to 2.6 percent in the first quarter. In the first three months of the year, 57.9 percent of homes were sold above the asking price. Last quarter that increased to 66 percent.

Overbidding is now commonplace in all provinces. Homes in Zeeland, where underbidding used to be the norm, sold for an average of 1 percent above the asking price in the second quarter.

First-time buyers, in particular, are having a hard time. Nearly 70 percent of homes in the affordable segment sold above the asking price.

Lana Gerwssen of the Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM) is very concerned. “I find it very sad to see. There is a large group of Dutch people who have to move. First-time buyers who still live with their parents when they are 30, people who divorced their partner. For these people, the search is extremely frustrating,” she told the Telegraaf. “Some Dutch people go look at the same type of home over and over again but are disappointed time and time again. The question has long since ceased to be ‘Do I want to pay for it?’ but ‘Can I pay for it?’ That is not a fun way to buy a house.”

The Telegraaf spoke to a woman who managed to buy a home in Haarlem after over twenty viewings and eight bids. “About 75,000 euros above the asking price is no longer crazy. We even had a buyer bid 125,000 euros above,” she said. She and her boyfriend ultimately bid 100,000 euros above the asking price. “We were in the privileged position that we didn’t have to move. For others, the current situation is a lot more frustrating.”

Gerssen of the NVM sees that many people are giving up on the Randstad. “We are active in the Betuwe. Normally not an overheated area, but we are now also seeing many people from the Randstad moving here. People who cannot find a home in Utrecht, Houten, Vianen, or Nieuwegein are now coming to Culemborg, Geldermalsen, and Tiel. Here, they compete with first-time buyers who want to buy something in their own region.”