Half the homes which were sold on the open market in the Netherlands went for more than their asking price last year, according to new figures from national statistics agency CBS.

The figure is another illustration of the mismatch between supply and demand for owner-occupier homes. In 2015, just 7% of homes were sold for more than the seller originally asked for.

The figures also show that underbidding is no longer the norm. In 2015, 87% of homes were sold for below the list price, but this fell to 38% last year, the CBS said.

Quick sales

In addition, the researchers found that houses and flats are changing hands much more quickly than they used to. Last year, a property was on sale for an average of just two months, compared with 10 months in 2015.

The research was carried out on behalf of the home affairs ministry, which deals with housing-related issues and is under pressure to increase the supply through new building projects.

One million homes

Meanwhile, the construction sector institute EIB has warned meeting the one million new homes target drawn up by developers, local authorities and housing corporations will mean building in the countryside.

Current planning capacity can yield almost 600,000 homes in the seven most populous provinces, but this means some 300,000 homes still need a location, the EIB said in a new report.

‘These locations can be found in the green spaces around the cities, where there are also good opportunities to integrate housing into the environment,’ the EIB said. Focusing on building in more rural areas combined with inner-city housing, the institute said, will offer better opportunities to meet demand.

Strategy

EIB director Taco van Hoek told the Financieele Dagblad the bottleneck lies in the strategy to ‘first build in cities rather than in the countryside’.

Van Hoek told the paper that he hopes the report will be taken on board by the next cabinet which will be charged with putting the one million new homes strategy into practice.