House prices rise slightly in June, more homes change hands

House prices in the Netherlands rose a marginal 0.2% in June when compared with May, but were down 5.5% on a year ago, national statistics agency CBS said on Monday.

The figures are based on completed transactions and lag earlier statistics provided by estate agents. The NVM estate agents organisation said earlier this month quarterly sales prices had actually risen 2.8% in the period April to end June, based on transactions by its members.

House prices had been falling steadily since August 2022, when soaring interest rates really started to have an impact. 

Land registry figures also show that more homes are now changing hands. In June the Kadaster recorded just over 16,500 completed transactions, 6% up on June 2022. 

The CBS also published quarter-on-quarter figures covering the regional housing market on Monday, which showed prices had fallen across every province in the second quarter of the year.

Of the four big cities, the biggest decline was in Utrecht, where prices were down 12.3%. In Amsterdam, prices were down 9%, compared with minus 5.7% in the first quarter, but the number of transactions in the capital was up over 6%. 

ABN Amro economists said last week they expect the number of people buying and selling houses to continue to fall in 2024, despite the slight uptick in prices.

The number of sales fell 7% in the 12 months to the end of May and the prospects for the future are “anything but favourable” the bank said in its latest housing market monitor.

The bank expects house prices to fall 5% this year and 3% in 2024, a slightly better performance than in earlier forecasts.