House prices have fallen sharply since last year’s spring budget agreement which agreed limits on the mortgage tax break, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

The Volkskrant says house owners had hoped to sell their houses before the new rules came into effect on January 1 2013, and began cutting their asking prices.
The average sales price has fallen almost 20% since the economic crisis began in 2008, the paper says. But sellers had been reluctant to mark down their properties. Until 2011, advertised prices had only fallen by 2% a year, but this gathered steam in 2011 and last year prices fell by 4% in four months.
The sharp drop is due to the spring agreement signed by five parties in parliament after the coalition government collapsed in April, the paper says. That deal placed a 30-year limit on tax relief, reducing the amount of money house buyers could borrow.
The Volkskrant has set up a website which home owners can use to find out how much property in their area has gone down in price.
The estate agents organisation NVM is due to publish its figures for 2012 on Thursday.
Sales did gather steam in the final weeks of the year as buyers rushed to meet the January deadline.
Earlier stories
Hopeful homebuyers rush to meet mortgage deadline