Home seekers finally have more to choose from in Amsterdam

The Amsterdam housing market is seeing some movement again. For the third consecutive quarter, the housing supply in the capital and its surroundings grew, resulting in more homes being offered for sale than before the corona crisis. In addition, many more homes were sold.

Amsterdam real estate agents draw this conclusion based on the latest housing market figures from the Dutch Association of Real estate agents (NVM). The increase in supply in the Amsterdam region, which also includes Abcoude and Diemen, is at odds with the market in the rest of the Netherlands. There, house seekers have less and less to choose.

The chairman of the Amsterdam Real Estate Agents Association says that it correlates with the corona crisis. According to the chairman, due to the pandemic resulting in working from home, some ‘Amsterdammers’ started looking for slightly larger houses on the outskirts of the city and beyond.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, there were approximately 2,000 homes for sale in Amsterdam, more than 10% more than at the same time in 2019. However, the market remains tight. Home seekers can choose from an average of three homes, and in some neighbourhoods such as Amsterdam West they  now can choose between five homes on average.

Homeowners mainly are putting apartments up for sale. The supply in that category was nearly a fifth higher at the end of the fourth quarter than in the same period last year. This also has to do with the lack of tourists and expats because of the corona crisis. According to Amsterdam real estate agents, the increase in supply is not due to the reduced interest from buyers. In the past quarter, more than 2,700 homes were sold, the highest number in four years.

That is why there are hardly any price decreases in Amsterdam, but the growth however is levelling off. That is also because prices in Amsterdam have been high for years. According to the NVM, home buyers in the Amsterdam region paid an average of €493,000,- for a home. That is 3.4% higher than the same period last year.

Here, too, the apartments stand out. These are still more expensive compared to the end of 2019. But buyers paid € 4,000 less for an apartment just before the pandemic than at the end of 2020.

The national figures however do not correlate. Just like last quarter, the NVM noted a record increase in house prices. The average costs for a home was €365,000, which is 11.6% more than at the end of 2019. The supply throughout the Netherlands also continues to decline. Home seekers can now choose on average from less than two homes. According to the NVM, people (about one in ten) continue to leave the suburban areas. This trend is somewhat reinforced by the corona crisis.

Prices of new-build homes also continue to rise, to an average of €421,000,- in the last quarter of 2020. That is 9.2% higher than a year earlier. The NVM is not very optimistic about the new short term construction plans. According to the real estate agents, mainly projects that have been developed before the corona crisis will be on sale this year. Since then, decision-making has been slower as project developers and municipal officials have to work from home. According to the NVM, this does not benefit construction.

Source: https://fd.nl/ondernemen/1370411/huizenzoekers-in-amsterdam-hebben-weer-wat-meer-te-kiezen, January 19th 2020.

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