Market value approaches vacant possession value

The Dutch housing market continues to grow. The number of sold existing owner-occupied houses rose by 24.0% in March 2016 in comparison with the same month in 2015. Prices rose by 4.3% in the same period. Growth was strongest in the northern part of the Randstad conurbation says international real estate advisor CBRE in her most recent Residential MarketView. In Amsterdam the average transaction price is now above its highest level before the economic recession. This is due to the strong increase in demand and the limited availability in Amsterdam. The demand growth has also had an effect on the average rent level, which has risen sharply. At the end of 2015 this was €22.30 per sq m per month in Amsterdam city centre. The rising demand from investors for rental housing in the large cities has led to a shift in the realised vacant possession value ratios.

Pressure on city centres extends to surrounding towns

Partly because of the limited housing availability, increased house prices and higher rents, more people left the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht in 2015 than in preceding years. Rotterdam was the only city where new arrivals outnumbered the people moving away. The surplus of people leaving Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht did not mean that the population dropped in these large cities. The number of births remained higher than the number of deaths, and more people from other countries arrived than left.

Market value approaches vacant possession value

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