Dutch housing market recovery continues, prices rising

The recovery of the Dutch housing market continues, with rising sales and higher prices, preliminary results of the Dutch Association of Real Estate Brokers (NVM) showed Tuesday.
In the second quarter of 2014, the NVM brokers sold 29,216 homes, an increase of 41 percent year-on-year. In the overall market, an estimated 39,000 homes were sold in the same quarter.
The second quarter of 2014 saw the highest number of sales since the beginning of the crisis in the second part of 2008. Compared to the first quarter of 2014, 20.1 percent more homes were sold.
The housing prices rose for the third consecutive quarter. Compared to the previous quarter, prices increased by 1.7 percent to 215,000 euros (292,000 U.S. dollars) on average per sold home. Compared with the same period one year earlier, the prices now are 3.5 percent higher.
There are still large regional differences in the pace of the housing market recovery. The cities are recovering much faster than the rural areas.
"We are pleased that the market is on the rise again, but we have to realize that we are talking about averages," said Ger Hukker, chairman of the NVM. "The regional differences are large and some housing types, including detached houses, have even fallen in price on an annual basis."
The NVM emphasized that the market is still not fully recovered. House sales are still significantly lower than before the crisis, when NVM brokers sold annually around 150,000 homes.
"We are pleased that the market is again on the rise, but we should not be too focused on these figures," added Hukker. "Many consumers have delayed the purchase of their home for a long time, so there is now kind of a peak."