In the first quarter of this year, 42.5 percent fewer houses were sold in Amsterdam than in the same quarter last year. After boiling over, you can now speak of boiling dry.
In the first quarter of 2022, 43,923 homes were sold in Amsterdam, the lowest number in six years. Jerry Wijnen, chairman of Makelaarsvereniging Amsterdam, can explain why the housing market has boiled dry: “We all had corona and then Ukraine came, so there were a lot of people who took no action for a while”
There has always been a shortage of supply, but due to the pandemic and the war, people became more hesitant, who can still afford it, to buy a house. The result is also that homes that are listed for a great deal on Funda, such as a terraced house of 240 square meters in the Rivierenbuurt for 2 million euros, will remain unsold for the time being. “An absolute top location in South”, expensive housing expert Erik Rezelman reads out the ad, “if you turn around, we used to call this neighborhood Warsaw!”
“If people can pay less, house prices will also fall”
Meanwhile, it is not only war, but interest rates have also risen from 1.5 to almost 3 percent. Rezelman: “The good thing is that people can borrow less due to the rise in interest rates and if people can pay less, house prices will also fall.” According to Wijnen, that price drop is possible, but the chance is very small: “We have relatively few homes and Amsterdam will always remain a city where many people want to live.”
Perspective
According to Wijnen, the brokers see that more and more homes are coming on the market in the spring. “We see a trend again, a kind of catching up trend, in the first quarter.” So, according to him, the current moment also offers opportunities for those who can afford it: “I do not expect the demand for housing in Amsterdam to ever decrease. I dare say that there will always be a shortage in Amsterdam.”
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