ABN Amro has published its projections for the Dutch housing market in 2022, predicting that house prices will rise by 12,5 percent in the new year.
House prices in the Netherlands have become significantly more expensive over the past two years, with 2021 breaking a number of records according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). While many looking to buy a house in the near future might hope that this trend will taper off in 2022, one prominent Dutch bank has some slightly less encouraging news.
In October 2021, Abn Amro predicted that house prices in the Netherlands would rise by 10 percent in 2022. Now, only one week into the new year, they have updated their projections, announcing in their latest housing market monitor that prices will rise by 12,5 percent in 2022 and by a further 5 percent in 2023. Unsurprisingly, experts predict that property prices in the four largest Dutch cities - Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague - will rise at an even faster rate.
These projections are slightly higher than those published by Rabobank last summer, when economists said prices would rise by 11,5 percent this year. According to figures from ABN Amro, housing in the Netherlands became 15 percent more expensive in 2021.
ABN Amro attributed the rising prices to low interest rates on mortgages. “Although the mortgage interest rate decline has come to an end due to increased inflation, we think that mortgage interest rates will remain low on balance,” explained senior economist Philip Bokeloh.
Furthermore, Bokeloh said, “Wage developments remain positive thanks to the tight labour market and the economic recovery that is on the horizon once the lockdown measures are reversed” - two factors which further contribute to the rising prices.
In addition to rising prices, ABN Amro said the number of sales that take place will fall further in 2022, after suffering a 5 percent drop in 2021, and that the relatively new trend of drastically overbidding on properties in order to secure a sale will continue into the new year as a result of the national housing shortage.