Number of sales is down 30% this year
There are more signs that house prices are stabilizing, with the increase between March and April just 0.2 of a percentage point, according to figures from the national statistics office CBS and the land registry office Kadaster. In March house prices rose 19.5% year on year, but in April the increase was 19.7%. In January, the annual rise topped 21%. In April, almost 16,000 sales were registered with the Kadaster, down 16% year on year. In the first four months of 2022, almost 60,000 properties changed hands, and this is down 30% from a year ago.
House prices have been rising steadily since June 2013 when they hit a low during the financial crisis. Compared with that month, prices have risen by nearly 96%. Research published by the real estate agents association NVM in April shows that house prices in the Netherlands actually dropped 2.1% in the first three months of this year when compared with the final quarter of 2021. This could mean that a ‘cooling breeze is blowing over the overheated market,’ NVM director Onno Hoes said at the time. Estate agents say rising interest rates, as well as the shortage of properties, are having an impact on demand because people have less to spend. Interest rates have more than doubled since the start of the year.
