Overheating House Prices in Netherlands Boost Wealth

A significant increase of the wealth median of €6,000 to €28,300 was recorded last year, with Dutch households getting income from the substantial increase of the housing market.

According to the Statistics Netherlands, the number of house sales recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018 amount to 242,000 to 27,000 or more. This figure boosted the wealth of the country and climbed to the fourth spot for the median wealth, according to the Global Wealth Report.

In fact, according to the report, an average Dutchman or woman has at least $100,000 assets. The 477,000 people in the Netherlands has assets amounting to €1M.

The increase of Housing Demand

In the last couple of years, Netherlands attracted expats with the 30% ruling. This scheme allows expats to receive up to 30% income tax, tax-free. The reason why the government has done this is that the country needs more skilled individuals in their workforce. In addition, it is also driven to help expats afford the cost of living in the country.

With more people moving to the Netherlands and not enough housing construction projects the past years, there has been a big demand for housing. This created the surge of prices when it comes to houses, apartments and condominiums.

Today, prices of homes in the country are still expensive and continue to increase faster with an average of 9.2 per cent. This 2019, experts are claiming that house sales will decline due to the overheating price.