House prices rose 2.6 pc in Amsterdam last month, but down nationwide

The March drop in average prices is larger than the 1.7 percent recorded in February, the CBS said.

House prices are now back at around the same level as in November 2002 and have fallen more than 20 percent since the start of the economic crisis in 2008.

Nevertheless, the drop was 1.5 percent over the first quarter, and that is the lowest reduction in three years.

There was also a 25 percent rise in housing transactions in the first quarter.

In Amsterdam, house prices have risen 2.6 percent, and they were also up marginally in The Hague, the CBS figures show.

In Rotterdam they were down only very slightly.