The number of homes in the Netherlands with a value of more than €1m shot up 40% last year, according to property taxation company Calcasa.

The increase is the biggest since Calcasa started monitoring €1m plus homes in 2007.

At the end of 2019, some 60,000 homes had a value of more than €1m but this had soared to 84,400 by the end of last year. The increase was particularly strong in Zwolle, Tilburg and Eindhoven, where the increase was more than 70%.

Amsterdam remains the city with the most €1m plus homes – some 14,000 in total – but the increase in the capital was only around 20%.

The most expensive street in the Netherlands is, again, the Konijnenlaan in Wassenaar with an average price of €2.85m.

According to national statistics agency CBS, house prices rose around 8% last year, on average. So far there is no end in sight. In February, house prices rose by an average of 10.4% compared with the year earlier period, and that is the biggest increase in almost 20 years.

There are some disadvantages to having a valuable home. Last month, home owners’ association Verenging Eigen Huis warned that more home owners are having to pay the ‘villa tax’ for homes valued at more than €1,110,000. This mounts up to thousands of euros a year.