Various figures show that the housing market is cooling down. For example, the number of homes “up for sale” rose by 22% in three months. The average number of viewings fell sharply from almost 10 viewings in 2021 to below 5 in July 2022. The average number of bids per apartment also fell from 3.2 in January to 2.2 in July and the sales price of the average Dutch home has fallen by more than € 25,000.
In various regions, the price drop compared to the previous quarter is still much larger than the national average of 5.8 percent. In the regions of IJmond, Haarlem and Greater Amsterdam, prices fell by about 8-9%. There were also areas where prices rose slightly, such as Southeast Friesland and Southeast Drenthe.
According to the NVM, we have not yet returned to a ‘normal’ housing market. “With more supply, the options for buyers increase,” says chairman Gerssen. “That can also help the starter. But with a shortage of more than 300,000 homes, our brokers still have to “sell no” too often.
The main cause of the cooling down in the housing market is the rising mortgage interest rate. Now that interest rates are high, people taking out new mortgages are spending more on their monthly payments than they were a while ago. For example, according to data from www.hypotheekrente.nl, the interest rate for non-NHG 10-year fixed mortgages is now over 4%. A year ago it was about 1%.
