Existing owner-occupied homes were 20.2 percent more expensive in February than one year previously. That appears from Tuesday published figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and the Land Registry. At the same time, 17 percent fewer owner-occupied homes were sold in February of this year (more than 14,000) than a year earlier.
Prices of owner-occupied homes rose slightly less in February than in the previous month. At that time, owner-occupied homes were 21.1 percent more expensive than a year earlier, the largest price increase since Statistics Netherlands began taking measurements in 1995. Prices of owner-occupied homes have been rising steadily since 2013. In February of this year, owner-occupied homes were on average almost twice as expensive as at the low point in 2013.
In January, an existing owner-occupied home cost an average of almost 435,000 euros† That is the last month for which CBS has this data. A month earlier, the price for an existing owner-occupied home was almost 397,000 euros.
The housing shortage has been a problem for years. Owner-occupied and rental housing is becoming more and more expensive, waiting lists for social housing are long and many people, especially first-time buyers, cannot find affordable housing. The Rutte IV cabinet is trying to counter these problems with the construction of new homes.
For example, the coalition agreement states that hundreds of thousands of houses must be built every year and that housing associations are given more space to build new homes themselves. Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing, CDA) is also allocating 7.5 billion euros for infrastructure around new houses. According to critics, the question is whether only building new houses will solve the housing problem.
Also read: Building a lot of houses is not the only solution to the housing crisis