close

House prices continue to rise, experience sharpest increase in 20 years

House prices continue to rise, experience sharpest increase in 20 years

House prices in the Netherlands are notoriously high, and while many may have expected (or even hoped) that the ongoing coronavirus crisis would have led to a dip in the housing market, the reality is that prices continue to rise, breaking record after record. 

House prices in the Netherlands continue to rise

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that, in May 2021, the price of owner-occupied homes (not new builds) rose by a staggering 12,9 percent compared to the same period last year. This growth marks the sharpest increase since April 2001, and breaks the record of 11,5 percent which was set in April of this year.

In Amsterdam, while rental properties have experienced a drop in price thanks to the coronavirus crisis, house prices rose by 3,8 percent in the first quarter of 2021, in comparison to the last quarter of 2020, and prices were 1 percent higher than a year earlier.

May saw a drop in the number of house sales

Experts attribute this increase to the extensive financial support packages that were made available by the Dutch government, and point out that as travel was not possible and shops and restaurants were closed for months on end, members of the public were able to cut spending and start saving. They are now using these funds to buy a house.

CBS has also noted that the number of house sales that took place had dropped since last May. According to the Land Registry, 16.126 homes were sold in May 2021, 12,1 percent less than a year earlier. Between January and May of this year, almost 102.000 homes changed hands.

Victoria Séveno

Author

Victoria Séveno

Victoria grew up in Amsterdam, before moving to the UK to study English and Related Literature at the University of York and completing her NCTJ course at the Press Association...

Read more

JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)

COMMENTS

Leave a comment

TaraSchuh2 13:21 | 23 June 2021

The market is highway robbery. These investors are coming in and inflating the market and the government sits on the sidelines and does absolutely nothing (I guess that’s what we all expect from government - plus what do they care?) But history is bound to repeat itself. A falsely inflated market, super low interest rates but the pendulum will swing back and it will crash. It wasn’t even that long ago but everyone apparently has a frightening short memory. But what choice do we have because the government doesn’t care to intervene. And it’s summer so they need to go off camping for 4 weeks anyway…