Dutch consumers are gaining more and more confidence in the housing market. This is evident from figures for the first quarter of 2023 that Funda is publishing today. However, in contrast to previous quarters, the forecast does mean that both buying intent and buying behavior have increased.
An interesting fact, says Funda CEO Joost Dop. He acknowledges that it looks strange, but at the same time says that the sentiment is indeed alive among buyers. ‘Every quarter we survey about 3,000 people on the platform and therefore actually take the proverbial temperature,’ says Dop. ‘We want to use this to investigate what the enthusiasm is to become active in the market.’
That ‘temperature measurement’ now shows that buyers are more positive than they have been for a long time. This is partly due to the higher supply of homes, but also partly to the lower prices being asked for homes. In addition, sellers indicate that they are more likely to put their homes up for sale in the near future. According to Dop, these two factors together indicate more movement in the housing market.
Tipping point
However, he does not yet want to speak of a tipping point. Although he emphasizes that the market has become more friendly to buyers in terms of supply, according to Dop it should not be forgotten that two important themes are still playing a role in the housing market. “Those are affordability and tightness in the market,” he says. ‘The party would be complete for the buyers if they had low prices and low interest rates, but that has been ruined. After all, the interest is three times as high as a few years ago.’
starters
Due to the lower prices, there also seems to be light at the end for starters. According to Dop, they currently have more choice on the housing market. ‘Of course it depends on their own wallet, but it does help that it is now more often written in the newspaper that prices have fallen’, he concludes.
He can well imagine that it has been a hard blow for starters on the housing market in recent years, because homes have become more expensive per quarter than consumers have improved.
