News: Shortage of housing reaches peak in Holland.

The ever smaller supply of houses for sale is starting to become very worrying. In the last quarter of last year, fewer than 60,000 homes were for sale for the first time since 2003.

In the last three months of 2017, 'only' 59,600 homes were for sale in the Netherlands, according to new data from the Dutch Association of Estate Agents and Valuers (NVM). That is 6.1% less than a quarter earlier, and even 35.6% less than in the same period in 2016.
The supply of owner-occupied housing has never been so low in almost 15 years, emphasizes NVM chairman Ger Jaarsma. "We have to go back to 2003 to find supply quantities of less than 60,000 at the NVM," he says. "The decline is still The shortage of owner-occupied homes may be called a historic low point. The Dutch population has grown by about a million since 2003, so the demand for housing has only increased.As a result, the prices have only continued to rise since the upturn in the housing market. In the space of a year, the average purchase price grew by 9.19%, at 269,000 euros.
Selling price

In spite of the higher prices, according to the NVM, homes remain 'like hot cakes over the counter': "With over a quarter of the homes, they are even sold above the asking price. And homes change owner even faster; an average home was sold within 52 days in the past quarter. "
New construction

Although some 50,000 homes are currently being built per year, according to Jaarsma, production is still too little. For 2018 he expects a shortage of 200,000 homes. "With this production, the large housing shortage will hardly be made up."

Only when the housing construction is boosted to about 80,000 per year will the deficit be reduced to 'an acceptable 100,000 homes' by 2025.