In 2021, house-buyers in Groningen paid on average 12,7 percent above the original asking price due to growing demand for property across the country. The northern provinces seem to have been particularly negatively affected by this trend, with cities such as Assen (7,3 percent), and Leeuwarden (7,8 percent) also seeing notable deviations.
These statistics, featured in newly published research by the Central Bureau for Statistics of the Netherlands (CBS), show that the gap between housing supply and demand is higher than ever in the Netherlands. 73 percent of housing purchases throughout the country are now above the original asking price; a trend that has seemingly grown progressively worse over the last six years.
Of all houses sold in the Netherlands, only 20 percent fell below the asking price, compared to 86 percent in 2015.
The most worrying aspect of the new research, the CBS reports, is that seventeen municipalities, including Groningen, showed discrepancies of over 10 percent from the asking prices; a first in the country’s history.
Concerningly, houses are also available on the market for shorter periods of time, resulting in a clamor of would-be house-buyers bidding on a comparatively small number of properties. In 2014, houses were available for sale for an average of ten months, but in 2021 that number has plummeted to just two months.
According to the CBS, the problem comes down to a lack of supply. There are simply too few houses for sale in the country to match the unprecedented amounts of demand.
All indications, according to the data, suggest that this trend is only set to worsen in the next few years, as housing demand in the Netherlands shows no sign of relenting.
