House prices were up by 17.8% in August, when compared with the year-earlier period, national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday.

The rise is the highest since September 2000, when the average price of a home rose 17.9%. The average price paid for a home last month was €402,308.

‘We keep thinking that we have almost reached the maximum and that prices can’t rise any further, but then they do,’ chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told broadcaster NOS.

At the same time, the number of properties changing hands fell by 9% to 17,250 because of the shortage of supply.

The outgoing government has pledged to spend €100m a year for the next 10 years to boost the housing supply.

So far new builing is lagging behind government expectations. Construction industry economic institute EIB says that it expects 63,000 new homes will be completed this year, which is well below the government’s target of 75,000 new build and conversions.

Nevertheless, the number of permits granted each year is going up, and has risen 30% since 2019, when new home construction reached a low point, the EIB said.