The buyer has a slightly better chance on the Drenthe housing market

Less outbidding, and it takes a little longer for a house to sell. Home seekers have a little more to choose from on the Drenthe housing market. This is evident from the first NVM quarterly figures of 2023.

“Sellers still have to get used to the fact that buyers no longer bid far above the asking price,” says NVM estate agent Wim Stuursma. At the beginning of this year, 30 percent of homes sold above the asking price. Last year this was still about 80 percent in the first quarter.

The asking price is still rising, but the time of considerable outbidding is over. “You see that people are still outbidding, but not as much as before. Think of 1 or 2 percent of the asking price.” That sometimes leads to disappointed buyers. “They have to get used to the ‘new’ housing market. They sometimes expected more from it. Also because the neighbors did sell their house with a considerable overbidding,” says Stuursma.

The number of houses for sale differs per municipality. Stuursma: “You can see that the supply is slowly increasing. We are satisfied in the cities. Think of Assen and Emmen. Not in the villages, the supply is limited there.”

Sales prices in Drenthe are falling less rapidly than the national trend. The average price in this first quarter was 338,000 euros. Only in Meppel did the sales price remain virtually the same, in Midden-Drenthe the fall in house prices was the strongest with 19.3 percent.

There are concerns about new construction projects. Sales of the number of new homes fell by 37 percent. These are national figures, but NVM says that the Drenthe market does not differ from the national trend. This is mainly due to the sharp rise in prices.

Where an average of 394,000 euros must be paid for an existing home, an average new-build home costs around 468,000 euros in this first quarter. Previously there was also a difference in price, but not as big as now. Stuursma: “Estate agents have a lot of trouble selling new construction and this also takes much longer.”

This is also because people have become more careful. Stuursma: “People want to sell their house first before they buy something again. We have become cautious.”

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