Fresh figures from the real estate barometer operated by the Belgian notaries of Notaris.be show a cooling of the market. The website’s Bart Van Opstal says prices continued to increase in 2022 but didn’t keep step with inflation.
Notary Van Opstal speaks of an exceptional year with a serious cooling down of the market during the second half of the year and 7% fewer transactions.
Van Opstal sees several reasons for the cooling down: rising interest rates that makes it harder for youngsters to get on the property ladder: “People also feel unsure as a result of the war in Ukraine. People are hesitating and the market is cooling down as a result”.
Today nearly one in three house buyers is under 30. “Youngsters see the grey skies ahead: interest rates are rising and they want to agree a purchase before greater uncertainty grips the market” says Van Opstal.
Brussels remains the priciest spot with the average house costing 575,000 euros. This is the double the Walloon average. The average Flemish house will set you back 350,000 euros. That’s 30,000 euros higher than the Belgian average.
House prices rose 8.2% in 2022 and that is less than inflation. Take inflation into account and you have a 1.8% fall in Flanders, a 3.1% drop in Brussels and a 4.3% fall in Wallonia.
Apart from Brussels Walloon Brabant is the priciest province. A house there costs 420,000 euros on average, 20,000 euros more than the average in Flemish Brabant. Limburg is the least expensive Flemish province with houses going for less than 300,000 euros. Take inflation into account and house prices fell across Flanders: down 3.3% on the year in Flemish Brabant, but only -0.7% in East Flanders.
Sint-Martens-Latem, outside Ghent, is the priciest municipality in Flanders. Menen in West Flanders is the cheapest. Linkebeek, outside Brussels, is the municipality that saw the lowest increase in prices last year.
The average Belgian flat will now cost 260,000 euros, up 3.6% on the year, but take inflation into account and that’s a fall of 6.4%. The average price of a flat in Brussels is now 280,000 euros. In Wallonia the average is just shy of 200,000 euros.
In Flanders flat prices rose fastest in Flemish Brabant. Today Flemish Brabant and no longer the coast is the place where you find the most expensive flats in Flanders.
“The rush on the coast during the pandemic has stopped. Today house prices in the Leuven area of Flemish Brabant are so expensive people decide to buy a flat increasing demand” says Van Opstal.
You’ll find the priciest Flemish flats in Boutersem (Flemish Brabant) and no longer in the resort of Knokke-Heist.