Despite the sharp rise in house prices, hundreds of thousands of homes bought between 2004 and 2012 are still in negative equity, the Telegraaf reported on Tuesday.

Data provided by property researcher Calcasa reveals that 340,000 homes throughout the country are still now worth less than their purchase price. The company said most of the homes ‘virtually’ in negative equity were in the east (120,000) and south (127,000) of the country.

On average, people who bought a house in 2008 were the worst off.

The average sales price for a home in the Netherlands is now €266,000, up from €262,000 in the peak year of 2008. But Calcasa warned that this was not the case in 282 towns.

Prices in the Achterhoek region on the German border are still 7.5% lower than in 2008, while those near Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utecht are more than 10% higher than that year.

Calcasa based its figures on the 1.2 million houses bought between 2004 and 2012. There are about 4.3 million owner-occupied households in the Netherlands.