House prices fall for third month in a row, fewer deals are signed

House prices have fallen for the third month in a row, national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday, in a further sign that the overheated Dutch housing market is cooling down.

The September to October decline was 0.5%, and the average price of a house is now €428,000, down €18,000 on three months ago, the CBS said.

Year on year house prices rose 7.8%, a third of the rise recorded in January, and house prices have now been flattening for six months.

The housing market is under pressure from rising mortgage interest rates. A year ago, a buyer could get a 10 year fixed rate mortgage for around 1%, but that has now risen to 4.5%, mortgage advisors say.

The land registry office recorded nearly 15,000 transactions last month, down 8% on a year ago. And over the first 10 months of the year, transactions are down 17% on the same period in 2021.

Estate agents organisation NVM said last month the average house sold for 5.8% less in the third financial quarter than between April and June.

Those figures were the first solid indication that the Dutch property market was taking a downturn, after months of strong growth.

The CBS statistics measure sales when they are reported to the land registry office but the NVM figures reflect homes sold by its accredited agents.