Dutch house prices rose 11.5% in the final quarter of last year, down slightly on the increases recorded in the earlier part of the year.

The figures come from estate agents organisation NVM and are based on deals that have been agreed but not finalised. NVM agents cover some 70% of the market.

The average price agreed for a property was €483,000, up some €9,000 on the third quarter. Quarter on quarter, prices were up 2.5%, which the NVM described as “relatively moderate”.  

NVM agents sold some 43,000 properties in the final three months of the year, up 7,000 on the same period in 2023. “There is more supply and that means more opportunities for house hunters,” the NVM’s Lana Goutsmits-Gerssen said. “The average time from market to sale is 27 days, and that means buyers are continuing to make quick decisions.”

Lower mortgage interest rates and higher wages have helped boost the market, as well as an increase in supply, she said. In addition, more investors are selling off property because of the introduction of stricter rent controls. The number of apartments changing hands in Q4 reached a “historic high” of 14,000.

The NVM research shows the average price has now topped €500,000 in 144 of the Netherlands’ 342 local authority areas and is over €700,000 in 11 of them, including Blaricum and Wassenaar. The cheapest homes, with an average price of below €300,000 are in Kerkrade and Heerlen in Limburg, Vlissingen in Zeeland and Pekela in Groningen.

NVM agents also sold more newly built properties in 2024 – nearly 29,000 as opposed to around 19,000 in the previous years. The average price has remained stable at around €470,000 although the size has dropped from 119 square metres to 103.

Earlier this week, online estate agents Makelaarsland told the Telegraaf there are signs the market has been cooling slightly. “Some sellers have been surprised by the lack of interest because they thought it was a seller’s market. But we’ve been noticing it for some three months,” director Ivor Brevé told the paper.

In particular, buyers are more prepared to offer below the asking price, Brevé said. Over the past three months, 34% of Makelaarsland sales were for below the asking price, compared with 27% in the third quarter and 25% in the second, the Telegraaf said.

And on Wednesday, monitoring group Hypotheken Data Netwerk (HDN) said the Dutch mortgage market recovered from its 2023 dip last year, with a 29% rise in new agreements.

In total, the HDN registered 483,922 mortgage requests in 2024, of which 303,230 were for buying a house – a rise of 26%. The rest of the requests were for either transferring or increasing a mortgage, HDN said.