Increase in Dutch house prices among the highest in the EU

In Q2 2021, house prices in the European Union were on average 7.3 percent higher than in the same quarter last year. The Netherlands saw the highest increase after Estonia (+16.1 percent), Denmark (+15.6 percent), the Czech Republic (+14.5 percent), Luxembourg (+13.6 percent) and Lithuania (+13.3 percent). House prices rose all across the EU except in Cyprus. Of the 28 EU countries, 13 recorded an increase in house prices of more than 10 percent. This applied to five countries in the previous quarter.

House prices continue to rise more rapidly

The house price index, which includes transaction prices of both new and existing owner-occupied dwellings, was up by 12.8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. This was the fifth consecutive quarter in which prices rose more rapidly than in the preceding quarter. The average transaction price of new-build homes remained the same as in the previous quarter and was 11.4 percent higher than twelve months previously. With a growth rate of 13 percent, prices of existing owner-occupied dwellings rose more rapidly than those of new-build homes. The price rise of existing owner-occupied houses was the largest year-on-year increase in 20 years.

Fewer housing transactions in Q2

In Q2 2021, altogether 52,787 existing owner-occupied dwellings and 8,793 new-build homes were sold, down by 3.9 percent and up by 9.9 percent year-on-year respectively. The total number of dwellings sold fell by 2.1 percent, the first decrease in total transactions after seven quarters of year-on-year growth.