The number of houses changing hands in the first two weeks of the government’s ‘intelligent lockdown’ to head off the coronavirus went down by 12% when compared to the same period last year, according to figures from real estate agents association NVM.

At the same time, the number of new houses coming on the market has fallen by 9%, the NVM said on Wednesday.

‘Both demand and supply have gone down a little, but that shows that the pressure on the market remains,’ chairman Onno Hoes said. ‘So there is no question yet of prices coming down. And people are still bidding above the asking price.’

Estate agents and mortgage advisors specialising in the expat market have also told DutchNews.nl that they are still optimistic and there is no reason for potential buyers to put their plans on ice.