Largest fall in home sales prices in areas where prices rose the fastest, like Amsterdam

Home sales prices fell the most in the past quarter in the greater Amsterdam region, IJmond and Haarlem. The average transaction prices in these areas was more than 9 percent lower than during the same period last year. On average, house prices in the Netherlands fell by 6.4 percent on an annual basis last quarter. The NVM considers it to be a possible tipping point for the market.

The trend in Amsterdam is because prices previously shot up so quickly that they are now also falling faster, said Jerry Wijnen, who heads up the Amsterdam branch of the Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM). In addition, bidding over the listed price has also slowed in the Amsterdam area, according to Wijnen. "The price being paid now is a much more a realistic price."

Timon Hogervorst, director of the Haarlem real estate agency Huizenstede, is "happy that things have calmed down on the housing market." The fall in prices is a logical consequence of the higher mortgage interest, he said. It means that people have no other choice but to reduce the amount they borrow, and thus "there is no longer such wild overbidding."

Maarten van Vliet from the same real estate agency in Haarlem is now giving sellers different advice due to the price drop. "First it was, 'Buy another house.' Now we are saying, 'Sell your own house first, then you know what it will yield.'"

Incidentally, there are also regions where prices increased in the last quarter of 2022. Prices rose the fastest in the Delfzijl region, at 14 percent, although the average selling price in eastern Groningen is still considerably lower than the national average. In southwestern Overijssel, which includes Deventer, sales prices were also 2 percent higher than in the same period last year. Additionally, 10 percent more homes were sold there in the past quarter than in 2022, while in Het Gooi and southwestern Friesland, there was a 20 percent reduction in homes changing hands.

Sjirk de Jong, the chair of the NVM branch in Groningen, said that the figures for the municipality of Eemsdelta, which includes Delfzijl, are somewhat biased. This is because several homes which are relatively much more expensive were sold "by chance" last quarter, but also because of the earthquake-related problems in this region. The financial subsidy allowing residents to demolish and rebuild, which ultimately gives residents of old homes a new home in the long term, has made the older homes more financially attractive. Their value has increased as a result.

"A two-storey terraced house that previously had a value of 100,000 euros is now already going for 200,000 euros," said De Jong.