Housing market booming in Brussels

18 May 2005

BRUSSELS – Property sales increased by 10 percent in 2004 in the Brussels region over the previous year, according to the Society of Notarial Sales (NVN).

The NVN determined that the average price of housing has been steadily on the rise, especially in southern Brussels, Belga recently reported.

The most significant price increases, of more than 30 percent, for single-family homes have been in the Brussels’ communes of Uccle, Berchem, Saint-Josse and Saint-Gilles.

Single family homes are most expensive in the communes of Ixelles, Uccle and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, all popular with expats, where average prices range between EUR 350,000 to EUR 400,000.

Villas cost EUR 594,000 on average in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre and EUR 536,000 on average in Uccle.

One- and two-bedroom flats have also gotten more expensive – by 42 percent, for example, for two-bedroom flats in the more northerly communes of Ganshoren, 28 percent in Auderghem and 23 percent in Schaerbeek.

In Saint-Gilles, by contrast, prices for two-bedroom flats dropped by 21 percent in 2004 compared to 2003.
 
The market for three-bedroom flats remained relatively stable.

Average prices in the ‘posh’ communes of Uccle, Watermael-Boitsfort and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre are EUR 300,000.

Moreover, while property values have largely been on the rise in southern Brussels, northern communes including Berchen Saint-Agathe, Jette, Ganshoren and Anderlecht have also seen increases.

Property values have been steadily increasing in Brussels since 1998 for a host of reasons, ranging from basic supply and demand to a drop in the interest rates of loans to recent tax measures, according to the NVN.

But the prices of property in Brussels are still low compared to other European capitals such as London or Paris.

The increases have, moreover, been incremental and are hence not deemed disproportionate, according to the NVN.

It predicts that the biggest price hikes will be for flats, versus houses, over the next few years.

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Subject: Belgian News