This is the lowest price increase in five years. Indeed, since 2017, the upward trend in prices had constantly gained in intensity, going from +2.3% to a peak of +6.1% in 2020, as an annual average across all of Belgium, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the boom in transactions in more rural areas looking for homes.
House prices falling in Flanders, what about in Brussels and Wallonia? And why ?
However, 2022 had already shown signs of slowdown, with an average price increase of 4%.
Flanders is the region most protected from this slowdown phenomenon, with price growth of 3.8% in 2023. In Wallonia, this amounted to 2.3%. Brussels is the region most affected by this slowdown, with an increase of 0.7% in 2023, compared to 3.1% in 2022.
“This development is not unrelated to the rise in interest rates, which has exerted palpable pressure on the real estate purchasing power of Belgians,” emphasizes Immoweb.
Since January 2022, this purchasing power has decreased by 17%, from 127 square meters on average to 105 square meters.
Immoweb estimates, however, that the recent drop in interest rates to around 3.6% could provide an encouraging outlook for 2024. “Taking into account stagnant prices and a hypothetical drop in rates to 3%, households Belgians could regain the average purchasing power prior to 2022”, underlines Piet Derriks, Managing Director of Immoweb. “However, to reach the level at the start of 2022, the highest point in recent years, a reduction in interest rates to 2% would be necessary, an eventuality which seems unlikely in 2024.”
2024-01-08 10:31:06
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