The average house price in the Netherlands rose by a marginal 0.1% in April, compared with April 2013, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

The rise may be tiny, but it is the first time in five years that house prices have actually gone up. In March they were down 2.1% compared with the year earlier period

Nevertheless, house prices are still down 19.9% on August 2008, when they reached a peak, the CBS said.

More homes also changed hands in the first four months of 2014. Almost 40,000 homes were sold between January and the end of April, a rise of 34% on the same period in 2013.