House prices in Amsterdam rose 5.1% last year, helping push the average increase to almost 1%, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

The CBS figures confirm earlier forecasts which show house prices rose last year for the first time since 2008. Nevertheless, prices are still down 19% on their 2008 average, the CBS said.

There are still strong regional variations. The biggest rise – 2.7% – was noted in Noord-Holland province.

However, in Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Zeeland prices continue to fall. Friesland performed worst, with a decline of 1.2%, the CBS said.

Meanwhile, the Financieele Dagblad noted there was no rise in the number of people getting into difficulty with paying their mortgage in the final months of 2014.

By the end of the year, fewer than 0.9% of mortgage holders were in arrears of three months or more, credit rating agency Fitch is quoted as saying. Fitch bases its claims on mortgage porfolios sold to investors by Dutch banks.

By contrast, in Spain, the US and Ireland the percentage of mortgage holders in arrears of at least three months is 5%, 9% and 15%, the FD quoted Fitch as saying.