Belgian real estate agents dealing with influx of Dutch trying to buy or rent homes

Belgian real estate agents have seen a significant increase in Dutch home seekers who are looking for rental or purchase homes just over the Belgian border. “Renters, because of the tightness in the Dutch rental market. And buyers, because of the price difference,” real estate agent Stijn Adams of the Belgian real estate organization De Boer & Partners said. The organization is one of the largest companies on the Belgian real estate market with 16 offices.

“For the price of a terraced house in Breda, you can buy a villa on 1,000 square metres of land in Meersel-Dreef. The Dutch get considerably more for their money here," Adams said. Meersel-Dreef is a picturesque village in the province of Antwerp, right on the Dutch border.

The real estate agent is expecting the number of Dutch people looking to move to Belgium to continue to rise in the coming years. “I am expecting Dutch investors to also find their way to Belgium, especially because of the negative investment climate in the Netherlands. As long as the price differences are so vast and the housing shortage continues in the Netherlands, then I expect this trend to continue.”

Charlotte Beyers, a manager at Heylen Vastgoed, confirmed that the stream of Dutch people looking for homes is causing hecticness at Belgian estate agents. “Dutch people are coming here from all corners of the country. Not just from Breda, but also from The Hague, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven. The reason is purely the price and that there are too few homes in the Netherlands,” the property specialist said.

According to the Director of Communication at the Belgian federation of real estate agents, CIB, Kristophe Tijs, some real estate agents' portfolio in the border regions consists of 80 percent Dutch citizens. “An important reason for this is that many rental buildings were sold in the Netherlands last year. In the border area, you see a rush of Dutch people who want to go to Belgium," the director said.

"But there is also a shortage here, which is causing rent prices to rise significantly. In some municipalities, rent prices have risen by 10 to 15 percent in one year," he continued.

For this reason, many Belgian citizens are not pleased with the arrival of the Dutch residents. “In smaller municipalities, we have an average of 50 applications for a rental home, with peaks of up to 250 candidates. If the Dutch then come here en masse, that is, of course, not a benefit for the Belgians."