Signs of cooling in housing market: Less overbidding, asking price lowered more often

Signs of cooling in housing market: Less overbidding, asking price lowered more often

The Dutch housing market is showing signs of cooling down, according to Huispedia. The asking price for homes is being lowered more often, and people are overbidding less. The housing market information site warns that these effects are likely temporary.

Overbidding has been on the rise in the Netherlands since 2023 but has slowed down for the first time in the past quarter. On average, buyers bid 5.1 percent above the asking price, compared to 5.3 percent in the previous quarter. Overbidding is also happening less often, although over two-thirds of homes are still selling above the asking price.

Sellers also lowered their asking price more often in the past quarter, particularly people selling their apartments. One in seven apartments were put up for sale again at a lower price in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to one in nine the quarter before. This is happening in all price segments for apartments. On average, sellers took approximately 37,000 euros off the price. The largest price reduction occurred in Hilversum, where a villa dropped by more than 845,000 euros in asking price.

“There can be several reasons behind a price reduction,” said Huispedia CEO Maxim Bours. “The seller may find that the home is not being sold quickly enough, the initial asking price may simply have been too high, or the sale ultimately fell through the previous time.”

While the housing market seems to be cooling down, Bours expects it to be temporary. “We often see a dip in the development of home prices at the end of the year. We expect home prices to rise again and that this is a temporary effect. In particular, rising wages and an expected fall in the mortgage interest rate will ensure an expected growth in house values in 2025.”