Dutch housing market largely unaffected by coronavirus crisis

So far the coronavirus crisis seems to have had little effect on the Dutch housing market, according to realtors association NVM. Since mid-March, when the Netherlands went on intelligent lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, NVM brokers sold around 2,500 to 3 thousand homes per week. That is about the same as before the crisis, NOS reports.

"It seems that home seekers are still thinking in terms of possibilities. In addition, interest rates are still low and the season also plays a positive role," NVM chairman Onno Hoes said. Home prices are also still rising. The price per square meter was over 1 percent higher between mid-April and mid-May than in the month before the coronavirus crisis hit the Netherlands. The average home now costs 333 thousand euros, 7.7 percent more than a year ago.

One coronavirus effect on the housing market is that the number of free-sector homes entering the rental market increased significantly in many regions compared to last year. "The decreasing use of Airbnb seems a logical explanation," according to NVM. The coronavirus crisis brought tourism to a halt. In Amsterdam and The Hague, for example, 29 percent more homes were rented out in the past eight weeks than in the same period last year.