Home prices in Netherlands increased over 5% in March

The average owner-occupied home cost 432,061 euros in the Netherlands in March, 5.4 percent more expensive than in the same month last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Land Registry reported. Prices rose by 0.7 percent in March compared to February.

Home prices in the Netherlands peaked in July 2022. After that, they declined due to increased interest rates implemented to reduce sky-high inflation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That declining trend ended a year later. The scarcity in the Dutch housing market outweighed the interest rate effect, and many Netherlands residents received wage increases to counteract the high inflation.

Last month, 16,179 homes changed ownership, almost 5 percent more than in March 2023. Compared to a year earlier, the number of home real estate transactions in the first quarter was almost 10 percent higher at 44,441.

Last week, the NVM reported that home prices increased by 9 percent in the first quarter of this year. The realtors’ association registers a sale the moment a purchase contract is signed. The CBS only records sales when they’re registered by the notary. The NVM, therefore, often identifies housing market trends earlier.