Flanders housing market cools off

18 January 2006

BRUSSELS — The Flemish housing market cooled off in 2004, real estate agency network ERA said on Wednesday.

A study of 3,000 house and apartment sales indicated that the average price rose less quickly last year than it did in 2004.

A house in Flanders now costs on average EUR 183,000, while an apartment is going for EUR 132,000.

While prices for houses and apartments rose by 9.5 and 17.5 percent respectively in 2004; prices rose by just 7.6 and 5.3 percent in 2005.

The prices refer to existing buildings rather than newly-constructed homes, newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ reported.

ERA official Iain Cook attributed the slowdown in apartment price rises was due to the rapid growth of newly-built homes. An oversupply is feared.

Homes also were up for sale for longer in 2005 than in 2004. In 2004, a home was on average up for sale in Flanders for 101 days compared with 109 last year.

Subject: Belgian news