The Dutch real estate market is undergoing a historic transformation. According to the latest data from the cadastral office, apartment sales jumped by a record 25% in 2025. Of the 230,000 properties sold, more than a third were apartments. This jump is the largest ever recorded, and has fundamentally changed the balance of power between investors and regular buyers.
The main driver of this change is tighter rental regulations, including the new Affordable Rent Act. Private landlords have started to put their investment properties, which previously generated a stable income, up for sale en masse. Landlords prefer to lock in their profits now rather than adjust to the new, stricter rent restrictions. Most of these apartments are small and more affordable than private homes.
The massive outflow of investors has created opportunities for young people and first-time home buyers. Apartments that had previously been rented out for years are on average EUR 130,000 cheaper than other properties on the market. The average price for such properties was approximately EUR 384,000. This has given young families access to housing that they could not previously afford, which has led to a sharp rejuvenation of the buyer base.
Interestingly, the active sale of apartments to investors has slowed down price growth in the big cities. In Amsterdam, where the concentration of landlords was highest, house prices increased by only 3.6% over the year. Meanwhile, in quiet provinces like Drenthe, where investors are almost non-existent, prices have jumped by 11%. Experts call this the domino effect: when prices in big cities peak, demand shifts to the outskirts, causing prices there to rise sharply.
Despite the slowdown in price growth in the capital, 2025 is a period of incredible numbers for the country. The last three months of the year broke all records in terms of the number of transactions – over 67,000 properties were sold in just one quarter. The overall average price of homes in the Netherlands reached EUR 480,000, and the number of transactions involving luxury properties priced at over half a million euros increased by almost a third. The market remains extremely dynamic, balancing between new laws and huge demand.
Source: prian.ru
Detailed statistics on average property prices in Bulgaria by city and neighborhood can be found at imot.bg