Nearly a quarter of homes sold again within five years

Netherlands residents are changing homes faster. So far this year, almost a quarter of homes sold have been in the owners’ possession for less than five years. At the same time, a growing group of Dutch people are also living in their homes for 20 years or longer, NU.nl reported based on figures from Calcassa.

So far this year, 22 percent of housing transactions involved homes that had been in the owners’ possession for less than five years, compared to 14 percent in 2016. Apartments in particular are changing hands quickly, largely due to landlords selling rental properties into the owner-occupied market.

The turnover rate is very high in the Randstad, an area with relatively many rental properties. In Amsterdam and Utrecht, more than half of the properties changed hands in the past ten years. In the rest of the country, Lelystad is the outlier. There, 26 percent of homeowners owned their homes for less than five years before listing them for sale again.

“Housing investors are selling their rental properties more often because renting them out is less profitable,” Carola de Groot, a housing market economist at RaboResearch, told the newspaper. “Rent increases have become more limited, and income is taxed more.” She expects the sale of rental properties to peak sometime next year.

At the same time, the group of Dutch people who have lived in their homes for 20 years or more is also growing. This year, 35 percent of homes sold had been in the previous owner’s possession for at least two decades. Ten years ago, that was 28 percent.

De Groot told NU.nl that the aging population is likely behind this increase. “The current generation of seniors was much more likely to purchase homes in their younger years,” she said. As a rule, older Dutch people stick to their homes. “There’s also a lack of suitable housing, but otherwise, these people are very satisfied with their homes. They like to stay there as long as possible.”