The housing market crisis was further emphasised on Thursday by the publication of new figures showing just 1,100 new homes are being bought every month, compared with 4,000 before the economic crisis began.

The figures are ‘dramatic’, Nico Rietdijk, head of property developers association NVB told the Financieele Dagblad. At the beginning of last year, 2,500 new properties were sold on a monthly basis, Rietdijk said.
On Wednesday, the national statistics office CBS said local authorities granted 55,800 building permits for new properties last year, the lowest figure since 1953.
Price drop
The Dutch real estate agents association NVM added to the gloomy picture on Thursday by saying house prices were down 6% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2011.
The average price paid for a home is now €214,000, compared with over €228,000 a year ago. Quarter on quarter the drop was 3% and house prices are now back to the level of 2005, the NVM said.
Some 170,000 houses are currently fore sale, more than double the total before the credit crisis.