The number of properties sold in Belgium during the first nine months of the year fell by 1.2%, while both the price of houses (+2.1%) and that of apartments (+1. 5%) is on the rise, according to the latest barometer of notaries presented on Thursday.
The real estate market shows that it is slowly recovering for the Federation of Belgian Notaries (Fednot). The drop in the number of sales concerns both Wallonia (-2.4%) and Brussels (-0.4%). “This more marked drop in Wallonia is perhaps due to the revision planned for January 2025 of registration fees,” maintains Renaud Grégoire, notary and spokesperson for notaire.be. “Registration fees will drop from 12.5% to 3% for the purchase of a single, clean home. In Flanders and Brussels, the decline was limited: -0.7% in the north of the country and -0.4% for the Belgian capital. But we have to remember where we come from: during the first nine months of 2023, we experienced, at the national level, a drop of 18.2% in sales.”
In the first quarter, sales were still at -7.3%, recalls Fednot. The price of goods continues to increase. A house cost on average in Belgium 329,468 euros during the first three quarters, or +2.1% compared to the annual average for 2023. But “taking into account the difference in terms of inflation between the first six months from 2024 and the year 2023, this is a price drop of 0.8%,” specifies Notaire.be.
In Brussels, house prices have fallen even without taking inflation into account: -1.4% for an average price of 554,677 euros. In Wallonia, house prices remained practically stable: 242,679 euros, +0.8% compared to 2023, without taking into account inflation. In Flanders, average house prices are increasing in all provinces.
In Wallonia, apart from in the province of Luxembourg (260,359 euros, -3.1%), the average price of houses increased in all provinces. The most marked increase is in Hainaut with an average price of 199,253 euros (+2.1%) for a house. The average price in the province of Liège is 234,581 euros (+1.1%), 249,291 euros for that of Namur and 419,457 euros (+0.9%) for Walloon Brabant
The average price of an apartment is 268,709 euros (+1.5%) in Belgium. The drop in prices is confirmed for apartments in Wallonia: -0.8% without taking into account inflation. An apartment there cost on average 197,572 euros. In Brussels, prices increased by +2.8%, reaching an average price of 288,428 euros.
During the first nine months of 2024, 10% of apartments sold were new apartments. In 2023 the figure was 14.8%, in 2019 it was 22.1%.
During the first nine months of 2024, 29% of buyers in Belgium were aged 30 or younger. At the beginning of this year, their share was only 27.1%.
Belgian
