House prices have risen for the third month in a row and are now back at 2003 levels, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday.

House prices are now on average 2.2% higher than in June 2013, the CBS said. However, house prices are still almost 20% down on their 2008 peak.

Nevertheless, there are strong regional variations, the CBS said. House prices continued to fall in Drenthe, Zeeland and Groningen but are up in the cities. The strongest rise was booked in Rotterdam, where house prices rose 4.1%, the CBS said.

Last week, the NVM real estate agents’ association pointed to a similar trend. In Amsterdam, one in 10 houses is now changing hands for more than the asking price.