Just one third of home buyers believe that estate agents are fair and honest, according to the results of a survey by home owners association VEH among its members.

In total, 34% of the 1,632 people who took part in the poll said they felt estate agents were trustworthy and 50% said they were not aware of the bidding log book system, which is supposed to boost transparency for would-be buyers.

The association has now called on housing minister Mona Keijzer to develop a uniform system for the log book to make the bidding process more equitable and transparent.

The log book system, launched in 2023, is supposed to be made available to unsuccessful bidders so they can find out more about how the bidding on a given property went.

“It is concerning that only one third of home owners trust estate agents,” said director Cindy Kremer. “A uniform bidding log book would be an important first step in restoring faith in the system, for both buyers and sellers.”

Transparency is even more important given that 71% of properties are now sold at above the asking price, compared with 31% two years ago, the VEH said.

At the beginning of March, the real estate agents association NVM, which claims to represent 70% of active realtors, withdrew from talks about a uniform system, a move which the VEH described as “unacceptable”.

Some 60% of the NVM’s 5,500 members rejected the call for uniformity, saying it would end the current way of selling a property by introducing a closed bidding process.

At the moment estate agents and sellers know who has bid what for the property and can steer the process accordingly – and tell new potential buyers that they need to overbid.

MPs are due to debate the housing market and the problems facing buyers on Wednesday.

Dutch News has contacted the NVM for comment.