Northern housing market remains tight, especially in city of Groningen

Translation by Traci White

The nature of the housing market is determined based on how many properties homebuyers have to choose from, which indicates scarcity. On average, people looking to buy a home in the city of Groningen can only choose from two properties. In the provinces of Friesland and Drenthe, would-be homebuyers had around five properties on average to choose from. The national average is 3.6 properties per homebuyer.

The scarcity is mainly attributed to a decrease in the number of owner-occupied homes coming on the market. As has been the trend in recent years, fewer homes came onto the market in 2018 than in 2017. Over the past four years, the number of homes for sale in Friesland declined from 7,182 to 2,265, according to the Leeuwarder Courant.

In the city of Groningen, competition on the market is extremely high. In the last quarter of 2018, most homes that were put up for sale were sold within 24 hours. The situation in the province of Groningen is drastically different: Dagblad van het Noorden reports that on average, most homes remained on the market for 61 days before finding a new owner.

The expectation is that the feverish housing market in the city of Groningen will continue for the foreseeable future. Although plans were formalized this week to build an additional 20,000 homes in the city by 2030, home prices will likely rise throughout 2019 as well.