Existing owner-occupied homes almost 10 percent more expensive in May than a year earlier

An existing owner-occupied home was 9.7 percent more expensive in May than in the same month last year. This was reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Land Registry. On average, a home cost 471,875 euros last month.

The price increase is slightly less strong than in April, when an existing owner-occupied home became more than 10 percent more expensive on average per year. Compared to that month, prices in May were 0.6 percent higher.

Home prices peaked in July 2022. They then fell again, only to rise again from June 2023. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), prices are now on average 11.7 percent higher than during the peak in July 2022.

On TV this weekend, the program Nederland op Film was about having your own home. It showed that a housing shortage is of all times .

The fact that a home is becoming more expensive is partly due to the demand that is much greater than the tight supply. The falling mortgage interest rate also played a role, as did increased incomes, which meant that people had more to spend.

The Land Registry also announced that 19,614 homes were sold in May. That is 11.5 percent more than a year earlier. In the first five months of this year, there were 90,003 transactions, an increase of 16 percent on an annual basis.

The CBS reported earlier this month that an existing owner-occupied home had become more expensive in almost all Dutch municipalities in the first quarter of this year. Prices rose most in Bunnik from January to March, by 19.8 percent, followed by Waddinxveen (18.7 percent) and Gouda (18 percent). House prices only fell in the municipalities of Texel and Vught.

Want to learn more about housing market jargon, from WOZ to mortgage rates? Read this Metro article .

Professor warns how excess sugar makes us sick: 'Sugar had an evolutionary function for humans'

Pet crowdfunding increasingly popular as a lifeline for sky-high healthcare costs

ANP