The Dutch housing market may be beginning to cool down, and house prices have actually fallen a fraction in places like Wassenaar, Amstelveen and Rotterdam, according to the latest report from price monitor Calcasa and home owners lobby group VEH.

‘The housing market always slows in the fourth quarter and you often have price drops in some areas, but this is a lot more than we usually see,’ Calcasa spokesman Rogier van der Hijden told the Telegraaf.

‘Prices in the fourth quarter have risen less than in previous fourth quarters and that is a sign the market is cooling down.’

The decline in consumer confidence and the fact that many homes are now becoming too expensive are likely to be behind the slow down, he said.

Nevertheless, houses are still more affordable than they were when the market reached its previous high in 2008 because of the extremely low interest rates, Calcasa figures show. In 2008 home buyers would spend 27% of their net monthly income on housing, compared with 16% now.

Despite the slowdown in the final three months of the year, average house prices still rose 9.3% in 2018. The rise was highest – 13.9% – in The Hague, followed by Rotterdam (13.5%) and Flevoland province (12.2%).

In Amsterdam, where prices rose fractionally in the final quarter, the 2018 rise was 11.7%.

The cheapest homes can still be found in Groningen province, where the average price rose 5.3% last year to €215,000.

Check out the Telegraaf’s interactive map