The average price paid for a home in the second quarter of this year hit €410,000, a rise of almost 20% on 2020 and the biggest increase since real estate agents association NVM began monitoring the figures in 1985.

The average price of an apartment has hit €344,000, a rise of 20%. A detached property, meanwhile, will set homebuyers back an average of €618,00, and that is an increase of over 23%.

NVM chairman Onno Hoes called on the government to take action to stop the market overheating. ‘Supply is shrinking and buyers are doing all they can to get a house,’ he said. ‘As long as the political agenda does not deal with the reality on the ground there will be no change.’

NVM estate agents sold 34,000 existing homes in the second quarter of the year, down 12% on the same period in 2020. The number of new homes sold rose by 25% at around 9,000.

Homes are now changing hands within an average of 24 days, and that is the shortest period ever, the NVM said.

House prices rose the most in the northern three provinces, with 30% recorded in eastern parts of Friesland, Groningen and the north of Overijssel.

Prices also rose over 20% in The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, but by 14% in Amsterdam.