Dutch house price increase among EU top five

On average, house prices in the European Union rose by 10.0 percent in Q4 2021. With an 18.7-percent increase, the Netherlands is among the top five countries in the EU with the largest house price increase. Only Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania and Hungary saw a sharper increase. House prices rose in nearly all other countries, with the exception of Cyprus (-5.3 percent).

Prices of new dwellings up by 13.5 percent

The house price index uses transaction prices of both new and existing owner-occupied dwellings. In Q4 2021, the transaction price of a newly-built home was on average 13.5 percent higher than in the same quarter of the previous year. The price of an existing owner-occupied dwelling was 19.6 percent higher, on average. This is the sharpest year-on-year price increase in almost 22 years. Over the whole of 2021, average transaction prices of existing and new owner-occupied dwellings rose by 15.2 and 13.9 percent, respectively.

Fewer housing transactions in Q4

In Q4 2021, altogether 52,798 existing owner-occupied dwellings and 9,583 new-build homes were sold. This represents year-on-year declines of 21.0 and 10.8 percent, respectively. In total, there were altogether 19.6 percent fewer transactions in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2020.

Altogether 33,204 new-build homes were sold in 2021. This is the highest number on record since measurements began in 2015. Existing owner-occupied dwellings, on the other hand, showed a decline in transactions. Last year, 226,087 existing homes were sold, which brings the total number of transactions in the market for owner-occupied dwellings to 259,291. This represents a year-on-year decline of 3.2 percent.

The figures on new-build dwellings presented in this news release are provisional and subject to revision.