In 2023, real estate was less popular in our country: the number of apartments and houses sold fell by 15.2 percent, according to the real estate barometer of notaris.be. But prices remain high, they even rose by 1.1 percent for an average house. How is that possible? Will they continue to decline soon? And how expensive is housing in your province today? View our overview below.
“We are currently experiencing a significant cooling down of the real estate market,” says notary Bart Van Opstal, spokesperson at notaris.be. “Almost 17 percent fewer sales took place in Flanders alone.” The decline was strongest in West Flanders. There, 18.7 percent fewer homes changed hands compared to the previous year.
Why is the market cooling down so quickly?
One of the main causes of that decline? The high interest rates at the banks. “On an annual basis, the interest on a home loan has increased by 1 to 2 percent. That may not sound like much, but with a loan of 200,000 euros this equates to an additional amount of 300 to 400 euros per month. So you had to pay a lot more to borrow the same amount and that stopped people from buying a home.”
“We have also had a very exceptional period. After the corona pandemic, we saw a rush on real estate: interest rates were very low at the time and people wanted to take advantage of that. That partly explains why there are fewer interested people now and therefore fewer sales.”
But house prices rose. Except in one province
Unfortunately, real estate prices are not falling. In 2023, you paid an average of 322,780 euros for a house in our country. That is about 1 percent more compared to the previous year. In Flanders, the average price for a house increased by 3%, to 358,677 euros. The absolute outlier in Flanders was Flemish Brabant. There, the average price rose by 4.6 percent to 420,129 euros for a house.
The price also rose in all other Flemish provinces. In Antwerp, among other places, the price rose by 1.8 percent, to almost 385,000 euros. Striking: in Brussels the price for a house did fall by just over 2 percent.
CLICK. How expensive is a house in your province?
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What about apartments? “You pay half more for an extra room”
That’s pretty much the same story. Prices here also rose slightly by 1.6 percent. An apartment in our country would cost an average of 264,792 euros in 2023. In Flanders, the average price for an apartment increased by 3.3% to 276,450 euros. The most striking increase is in West Flanders. The price for an apartment there has risen by 4.5 percent. On average you pay around 297,000 euros for a flat. Limburg remains the cheapest province. Despite an increase in prices of more than 4 percent, you ‘only’ pay around 246,000 euros for an apartment.
Many people over fifty are looking for an alternative to their large house and want to live smaller, in a spacious apartment
Notary Bart Van Opstal
What is still striking is that new-build apartments are becoming less and less popular. Barely 15 percent of all apartments sold are still new. In 2019, this was more than 1 in 5 apartments. “This is mainly due to the fact that the standards for those types of apartments have become very strict,” says Van Opstal. “For example, you have to insulate extra and use solar panels to generate energy. That scares people off.”
Apartments with three bedrooms are particularly popular. The price increased by 11.8% over the past year, with an average cost of such an apartment in Belgium being 364,961 euros. That is almost 40% more than the average price for a 2-bedroom apartment. So you pay almost half more for an extra room. “Many people over fifty are looking for an alternative to their large house and want to live smaller. But they want the most spacious apartments, so that they can provide an extra guest room for the grandchildren or an office. And that has a major impact on the price.”
Why don’t the prices of houses and apartments fall?
“That is because investors maintain the market,” says Van Opstal. “Unlike private buyers, they usually do not need a loan and buy property to rent it out later. There are still sufficient candidates for all houses and apartments. The time of bidding against each other to buy something, as in 2022, is over. In that respect, peace has returned to the real estate world.”
Will prices drop this year? “A lot will depend on what happens in the Middle East. The conflict between Israel and Palestine or the war in Ukraine both have an impact on the interest rate. If those problems escalate, interest rates here will continue to rise. As a result, there will be even fewer buyers and prices could also drop. 2024 is really a pivotal year in that respect.”
CLICK. How expensive is an apartment in your province?
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2024-01-16 06:00:00
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