The house is offered for 595,000 on the Funda website. It is described as a ‘beautiful two-room apartment’. You get ‘a modern shower with a built-in radio’, a ‘new wooden floor’, and the house is a five-minute walk from Vondelpark.
With an asking price of 16,081 per square meter, this property is probably one of the more expensive houses in Amsterdam. But it is not exactly equipped with all modern conveniences. For this amount the bed is in the kitchen and there is really no question of a ‘two-room apartment’: that is just an improvised room with a plaster wall. Interesting detail: the property was purchased in 2016 for 198,000.
The agent could not be reached by phone for comment.
Text continues below the photos.
The second room is really just an improvised room with plaster wall.
For this amount you do have a built-in radio in the shower.
Absurd
“Jesusmina, what a lot of money”, responds Bart Postema of the Amsterdam broker Rappange. “I think this is a lot for the Vondelstraat.” He also sees that Amsterdam prices are rising (‘within the ring towards 10 thousand’), but this is exceptionally high. “In general, the smaller the house, the higher the price per square meter. But also: the more special, the higher. We will also get a building at the Amstel at that price, but then you also have a very special home. But 16,081 per square meter is a lot of money, but good: people are free to ask for this.”
Gert Jan Bakker of the Woon! Foundation, which offers help to tenants and owners in Amsterdam with various housing problems, also confirms that the square meter price is absurd even by Amsterdam standards. “This is absurd, nobody is going to put this down in front of a house where you sleep in your kitchen. In addition: you really have to earn triple the average to be able to pay this box. But if you earn that much, you don’t want to end up on 37 square meters, do you?”
Bakker also confirms that you only see these kinds of prices at exclusive properties, but that is absolutely not the case with the house on Vondelstraat.
‘I’m not scared’
According to him, it could well be that the seller wants to cash in before the ‘self-residential obligation’ takes effect. As of April 1, it will be mandatory for home buyers in Amsterdam to live in their purchased home themselves, if the home has a WOZ value of up to 512,000 euros. “This gives starters more chances of buying a house, because they no longer have to compete with investors who buy homes and then rent them out for sky-high prices.” As a result, these types of houses are probably no longer offered for such prices, Bakker explains. ,,The seller may think: perhaps an investor wants to make his move before 1 April. They can then rent out the house for, say, 1600 a month.”
Bakker suspects that the house was first rented out as an Airbnb. “There’s a bed in the kitchen, and one in the small room. Why would you have two beds in such a small house? That doesn’t make sense. They should have taken the bed out of the kitchen for the photos.” He doesn’t think the seller is going to sell this house: “No, it really won’t be.”
Jerry Wijnen, chairman of the Amsterdam real estate association, also thinks the price is high, but is no longer surprised. ,,Yes, they are huge sums, but it doesn’t scare me anymore.” Every time he expects it couldn’t get any crazier, he sees another house that is being sold for a fortune. “I’ve been around for a while, but the more I know about it, the less I understand.”
Will such exorbitant house prices be a thing of the past after April 1? Wijnen suspects not. ,,The compulsory residence permit helps to give the buyer, who also wants to live there, a greater chance compared to the investor. But most competitors on the Amsterdam housing market are people who also want to live there. It is said that this policy is a good step, but the buy-to-let market in Amsterdam is not that big at all. The investor who now has some savings and wants to buy a house to rent out, usually does not buy in Amsterdam because the house price is so high. So I don’t expect this to make a huge difference.”