Prices of owner-occupied homes fell last month compared to February last year. According to Statistics Netherlands, this is the first time since 2014 that house prices have fallen compared to the same month a year earlier.
Houses were on average 0.8 percent cheaper in February than in the same month in 2022.
On a monthly basis, house prices have been falling for some time. “Comparing year to year gives a clearer picture,” says CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen. “But the trend has been for some time that prices are falling compared to the previous month.”
That is no different this year. For example, houses were worth 1.5 percent less last month than in January. The average house price in February was 410,189 euros.
Since the summer of last year, the tide has turned and prices are falling after years of increases. “Since then there has been a gentle glide downwards,” says Van Mulligen. After the banking crisis of 2008, house prices started to decline on an annual basis in 2009. “These declines lasted five years at the time.”
‘Modest correction on the insane level’
The lowest point was reached almost ten years ago, in June 2013. Since then, it could not end and houses only seemed to increase in value. According to the chief economist of Statistics Netherlands, the movements on the housing market at the time and those of today can hardly be compared.
“Prices were now so high and interest rates so extremely low.” A year ago we were still dealing with price increases of more than 20 percent. “All things considered, the price level is still very high. There is a relatively modest correction to an insane level,” says Van Mulligen.
Compared to the lowest point ten years ago, a house is still 90 percent more expensive.
