Housing in the city is scarce and house prices are still rising. For example, an owner-occupied home in 2021 was already more than twenty percent more expensive than two years before. And so expensive housing expert and financial journalist Erik Rezelman took us to a new home on the market: a 37 square meter apartment for 595,000 euros.
The price of the apartment on Vondelstraat in South therefore amounts to more than 16,000 euros per square metre: a new low for the Amsterdam housing market. The apartment is well maintained and in a central location, but the photos show that the bed is right next to the fridge.
A brutal asking price, Rezelman thinks. “These people sell their house themselves and try to sell it for six tons. That is allowed. For me it is a bit on the expensive side, but it is in line with the market. Maybe next year we will think: if only I had done it.” A man who walks by the house says he absolutely does not want to buy it: “I can’t, but I really wouldn’t.”
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take a look at what the house looks like inside. “He is probably ashamed of his house,” Rezelman thinks. “It really is a small starter home, looks neat, but for six tons…” The upstairs neighbor of the apartment is also shocked by the price. “I bought my flat a few years ago and it’s a lot bigger. So yes, I find the high price surprising.”
Mortgage interest
Because it is clear that the bubble will burst, according to Rezelman, but when and to what extent that will happen remains uncertain. In addition, the mortgage interest rate has also risen by half a percent to more than two percent since September. The expert says that the interest rate is still historically low, but “if it starts to rise and if it starts to rise very quickly, the housing market will also fall very hard”.
And that means that houses like the apartment on Vondelstraat will be the first to fall sharply in value, says Rezelman. “It is a starter home of six tons. That actually makes no sense, but that is in line with the market guys. That is Amsterdam.”
Terraced house for 2 million
The expensive house expert also takes us to a large terraced house in the Scheldebuurt of 248 square meters that is for sale for two million. “Six rooms, a big house. But for two million? It seems like it’s nothing anymore. The interesting thing is that in five years it might be three million. A terraced house, twenty-five years old and quite dated. put a lot on it when you buy it.”