Despite all the reports in the recent period that the real estate market is cooling down significantly, the prices of houses and apartments continue to rise. This is evident from the most recent figures from the Notary Barometer.
The average price of a house in Flanders increased by 7.6% and the price of an apartment by 3.1%. At Habicom, this trend is approximately the same, with house prices rising by 7.18% and apartment prices by 4.87%.
However, slightly fewer houses were sold in the same period last year, but this decrease is only 1.4%. At Habicom, the decline was even less, namely 0.5%. The expected negative impact of the energy crisis and the rising mortgage interest rates on the housing market has not materialized yet.
The reason for this could be that many young people under 30 still decide to buy a house, despite the high prices. They prefer buying over renting and are willing to make an extra effort for it. They also hope to benefit from the current mortgage interest rates. Although the interest rates rose from an average of 1.62% to 3.03% in the past year (for a loan with a fixed interest rate over 25 years), the expectation is that the mortgage interest rates will continue to rise in the future. By buying now, young people hope to preempt this future increase.
The older demographic shows the opposite trend. They mostly buy an apartment as an investment or for renting out. Due to the rising inflation, older people are currently more cautious and are postponing their purchases.