The Amsterdam housing market is rapidly changing into a buyer’s market. This is evident from research by AT5 among fifty real estate agents in the city. Homes that sold like hot cakes six months ago now remain for sale. The number of viewings is also falling sharply and asking prices increasingly have to be adjusted downwards.
The turnaround in the market was confirmed on Thursday by the quarterly figures of the MVA brokerage association. House prices in the fourth quarter of 2022 in Amsterdam fell by about ten percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
In recent years, houses in Amsterdam have become more expensive every quarter, but so that’s a thing of the past. Where for years the sellers had the power and could demand almost anything, buyers now have more and more options.
Buyer’s market
AT5 conducted research among fifty estate agents in the city. They also see the change in the housing market. More than seventy percent of brokers now speak of a buyer’s market. However, many brokers say in an explanation that this period can better be described as a transitional phase between the seller’s market that has prevailed for years and the upcoming buyer’s market.
“It is becoming more of a buyer’s market. We now have to work hard again and convince sellers that they cannot ask for everything. Purchasing is also much easier. The turnaround came in June. It is picking up a bit now, people are tired of waiting. Buyers are coming back on board,” says a real estate agent in a response.
The new reality is mainly caused by the sharp rise in mortgage interest rates. After years of decline, a historically rapid increase suddenly started last year. The reason for this: inflation. This forced central banks to raise interest rates. Mortgage lenders had to go along with this.
More than three-quarters of the brokers believe that the market is now much healthier than in recent years. Massive outbidding by sometimes a ton or even more on homes is now also a thing of the past. Homes are now even sold below the asking price: this happens in almost forty percent of transactions, say brokers.
Asking price
Three out of four real estate agents have also had to adjust the asking price for a home downwards in the past year. This often concerns five to ten percent of the original asking price. After such an adjustment, the home sells in 90 percent of the cases.
Estate agents do place a nuance with the falling asking prices. They say it is strategically determined: homes are sometimes underpriced to ensure a stormy rush of potential buyers. This can create the effect of outbidding. Now that sales prices are falling, most brokers believe it is wiser to put a property up for sale for a price close to fair value. Buyers increasingly feel that there is room to offer below the asking price.
Viewings
The number of viewings at a home for sale has also imploded in recent months. On average, a real estate agent in Amsterdam receives nine viewings per home. That is considerably less than a year ago. Real estate agents do say that it differs per home: a ready-to-move-in house between four and five hundred euros sometimes attracts dozens of people. A refurbishment house with a poor energy label is visited much less often: sometimes not even a handful of people show up over several weeks.
Ninety percent of brokers currently say that selling a home takes longer than last year. At almost half, a house is now often for sale between five and ten weeks, where previously the lead time was often only a few weeks.
Shortages remain
Despite the tilting market, the question is how long this will take and whether prices will fall further, because say an estate agent: “There is a structural shortage and new construction is not getting off the ground due to the high leasehold and the requirements of the municipality. the higher interest rates have increased the costs for buyers, but none of this changes the scarcity.”
