Dutch housing market cooling down, first price decreases noted

After years of skyrocketing prices, the housing market in the Netherlands may be cooling down. In the last quarter of 2018, one in five municipalities saw home prices decrease compared to the previous quarter, according to the quarterly report of valuation company Calcasa. The price decreases mainly happened in Limburg and Groningen, RTL Nieuws reports.

"The housing market seems to be cooling down", Calcasa said, though emphasized that it is too early to start celebrating. "It is difficult to reliably measure house price trends on a quarterly basis for a relatively small area. It is especially the trend that is important."

But the contours of a turning point can be seen. At the national level, housing prices increased 9.3 percent last year, according to the valuation company. But compared to the third quarter, prices increased only 1 percent during the last three months of 2018. That is the lowest quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2016.

In January realtors association NVM also reported sings of the housing market starting to cool down.