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The supply of owner-occupied homes on the Dutch housing market fell further at the end of last year, to the lowest level since 1995. The shortage on the supply side is pushing prices up. “A vicious circle,” said the Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents (NVM) on Thursday.
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Source: BELGIAN
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In the fourth quarter of 2021, an existing owner-occupied home in the Netherlands for an average of 438,000 euros changed hands. That is one fifth (20.7 percent) more than a year earlier. The average price of a new-build home rose by 13.8 percent to 466,000 euros.
The real estate association points to the decreasing supply of homes as the cause. In the fourth quarter of 2021, there were only 15,600 homes for sale, a third less than a year earlier. It is also the lowest number since the NVM started keeping figures on the housing supply in 1995.
Vicious circle
“We are in a vicious circle in the current market,” says NVM broker Lana Gerssen. “The flow is halted by too little supply and the shortage is pushing up prices. Low interest rates, equity in existing homes, savings and confidence in the economy easily lead to high bids and prices.”
According to the real estate association, homeowners wait to put their house up for sale until they have found a new home themselves. In order to get the flow in the housing market going again, the association is calling for more new-build homes to be built.
In the whole year 2021, brokers in the Netherlands sold more than 140,000 homes, compared to 170,000 in previous years, reports the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad. A difference of almost a fifth, which according to the NVM is the strongest decline since the credit crisis in 2008 and 2009.
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