After years of sustained growth, house prices in the Netherlands have fallen year-on-year for the first time in nine years, according to new figures. 

House prices in the Netherlands fall 6,4 percent year on year

Anyone looking to buy a house in the Netherlands will be pleased to hear that the market at the start of 2023 is looking a little less hot. According to new figures from the NVM, an association of real estate agencies, the average sale price (excluding taxes and fees) agreed between October and December 2022 was 407.000 euros - still a hefty figure, but a 6,4 percent drop compared to the same period in 2021, and a 3,7 percent drop compared to the third quarter of 2022. 

The rapid slowdown comes after interest rates for mortgages in the Netherlands more than tripled over 2022, throttling demand on the market just as rising inflation squeezed household budgets. 

Lana Goutsmits-Gerssen from the NVM said that there are more than double the number of houses for sale than there were last year, and the proportion of houses that remain on the market for more than six months has risen from one in 11 to one in five, DutchNews.nl reports.  

Large Dutch cities were the worst affected by the slowing market, with prices falling by the greatest amount - around 9 percent - in Amsterdam, IJmond and Haarlem. Sale prices also fell by 7 percent in The Hague and Utrecht. Outside of these big cities, prices continued to rise in some regions, by as much as 15 percent in places like South Limburg and Twente. 

Buyers have more choice, but Dutch homes still expensive

According to Goutsmits-Gerssen, this is all good news for potential buyers. “The extremely overheated housing market seems to be behind us,” she said at a press conference last week. “The amount of choice for buyers has increased… We are seeing a more balanced housing market.” 

However, with mortgage rates now hovering around the 4-percent mark, and the average house price still over 400.000 euros, the market remains tough for first-time buyers. “You have to earn quite a lot, and with the increased mortgage interest, the monthly costs are so high that it is becoming increasingly difficult for starters,” Goutsmits-Gerssen told NOS. 

At the same time, the NVM said it did not expect a large-scale crisis with homeowners being in negative equity (where their mortgage is more than their house is currently worth) since people own a greater proportion of their homes than during the last financial crisis in 2008.