House prices were up at least 10% in most of the big Dutch cities in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2023, national statistics agency CBS said on Monday.

Prices rose the most in Haarlem, Eindhoven and Utrecht, where buyers were paying some 15% more for a home than they would have done last year, the CBS said.

The CBS looked at the situation in the 25 biggest Dutch cities and found the smallest rise – 6.4% – was in Leeuwarden. Zwolle at 8.5% and Ede with 9.3% completed the bottom three.

The CBS said last month that buyers were paying roughly 12% more for a home, taking the average price to €473,000. This is due to continued high demand for properties, with wage increases and slightly lower mortgage interest rates boosting borrower capacity.

Other new CBS figures on Monday show the shortage of homes to buy is likely to worsen in the short term. Just 8,800 new homes were created in converted offices and other buildings last year, down 8% on 2022.

In the first six months of this year, 3,700 new homes were created in converted buildings, the CBS said.

Housing minister Mona Keijzer wants to stimulate the number of conversions and is considering, for example, relaxing the rules on splitting homes into smaller units.

Meanwhile, mortgage data processor HDN said on Monday that a record 31,758 requests for a mortgage to buy a home were made last month, beating the March 2020 figure and a rise of 45% on the same period last year. This pushed the average price of a home over €500,000, HDN said.

First-time buyers were paying an average of just under €408,000 for a home, while people who were moving on to their next property paid just under €610,000.