Housing market increasingly tight as more want to buy than sell

More people are looking to buy a house in the Netherlands, while the number of people who want to sell their house is decreasing, according to house site Funda's first ever housing market index. That means the shortage on the housing market is increasing, Funda CEO Quintin Schevernels said, RTL Nieuws reports.

Funda launched the housing market index to track whether buyers are confident in the market, whether they really intend to buy, or are just browsing, and how often they contact a realtor. It intends to publish this index monthly from now on.

"By looking at consumer confidence, intention and behavior every month, we think we can see what is happening before it happens. For now it seems that a flattening or slight fall in house prices is still a long way off," Schevernels said. "We can now see in the first Funda Index that there is a shortage and that it will remain so in the coming months."

Shortage on the housing market is bad news for those waiting for housing prices to fall. The fewer homes there are available, the more likely people are to overbid to make sure they get one of the few that are. That pushes prices higher. "Consumers expect the housing market to remain tight for the time being. And economic law says that it is unlikely that prices will come under pressure."