Price decrease houses less substantial

According to the price index of existing owner-occupied houses – a joint publication by Statistics Netherlands and the Land Registry Office – prices of houses sold in March 2010 were on average 3.5 percent down on March 2009. The decrease was less substantial than in February, when house prices were 4.2 percent lower than one year previously. After a period of price decreases of around 5 percent, prices tend to drop less rapidly in the past two months.

All types of existing owner-occupied homes were cheaper than one year previously. Prices of flats fell the least: by 2.5 percent. Prices of detached and semi-detached houses, which are usually more expensive, fell by no less than 4.6 and 4.0 percent respectively.

Across all provinces, house prices were lower than in March 2009. Price decreases varied between 5.2 percent in Utrecht and 1.5 percent in Friesland.

Prices of existing residential property were 0.3 percent down on February 2010. Month-on-month price changes in the provinces do not vary much. In some provinces, prices rose a few tenths of a percent relative to the previous month, in most provinces house prices dropped by a few tenths of percent. In the provinces of Zeeland and Limburg, house prices dropped by approximately 1.5 percent.

Over 11 thousand existing houses were sold in March, an increase by about 16 percent compared to March 2009. Sales improved for all types of houses. The lowest increase by 6.5 percent was recorded for detached houses.

Prices owner-occupied dwellings

More figures can be found on the theme page Prices.