Rising interest rates end decade-long Dutch property boom

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Rising interest rates last year ended a boom in the Dutch housing markets that lasted nearly a decade, the Dutch association of realtors NVM said.

House prices in the euro zone’s fifth largest economy dropped 6.4% on average in 2022, the NVM said, marking the first decrease since 2013.

“Last year marked a turning point”, the NVM said. “Supply of houses is growing, as sales drop and more houses are put on the market.”

The amount of houses for sale more than doubled in the year through December, while sales fell by 8%.

Over the past 10 years, the average price for an existing property in the Netherlands roughly doubled to 407,000 euros ($437,484.30).

Prices went up 15% in 2021 alone, and increased by 5% to 10% every year from 2016 to 2020, as historically low interest rates and a favourable tax regime for home buyers fuelled the boom.

($1 = 0.9303 euros)