Dutch housing market recovers faster than expected

The Dutch housing market recovers faster than expected, the Dutch brokers association NVM said after publishing their latest figures on Thursday.

According to the brokers, the housing market profited from the recovery of the Dutch economy and the low mortgage rates.

A total of 34,622 homes were sold in the last quarter of 2014, an increase of 30.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year and almost twice as much as the figures of the low point in the crisis in early 2013. On the total Dutch housing market, an estimated 46,500 homes were sold.

Throughout 2014 NVM brokers sold 116,623 homes, which is considerably more than the 86,904 of 2013.

In the period before the crisis, which started in mid-2008, the number of sales by NVM brokers annually was around 140,000-150,000 sold homes and the total sold homes on the overall market was around 200,000 homes annually at that time.

On the overall housing market throughout 2014 an estimated 156,500 homes were sold.

The average house price continues to rise. The average price of a sold house in the Netherlands is now at 215,000 euros (253,700 U.S. dollars), an increase of 1.3 percent compared with the third quarter of 2014. In total, housing prices in 2014 increased by 3.5 percent compared to 2013.

"The crisis quarters of low sales numbers and falling house prices are thus firmly behind us," said NVM chairman Ger Hukker in a press release.

"The expectations for 2015 are positive. We expect an increase in the number of transactions between 5-10 percent and a price increase of approximately 2.5-3 percent. But political unrest and instability in the world can disrupt the housing market," said Hukker.

The brokers don't see the housing marker return to the situation before the crisis.

"That's the past," Hukker said. "In many neighborhoods still many homes are for sale. Home buyers have become more cautious and more critical." Endit