The Netherlands MarketBeat

In recent years the Dutch economy clearly demonstrated it possesses resilience and adaptability. Despite two major crises in three years, the economy has grown by around 5%. However, the economic reality in 2023 differs significantly from the previous year. The Dutch central bank predicts an economic growth of 0.8% year-on-year, which feels a bit like a turnaround after the economic recovery of the last two years following the pandemic. Structurally higher inflation rates and the persisting conflict in Ukraine are having clear economic consequences this year. Rising energy prices since last year have led to higher prices for almost all goods and services, reducing purchasing power and constraining expenditures

The investment climate in recent years has been characterized by a high degree of volatility. Since mid-last year, investors have faced exceptionally rapid increases in market interest rates, anticipating future hikes in central banks' policy rates to combat high inflation. Rates on government bond markets also rose quickly. As a result, a decline in investment activity became evident from the second half of 2022, as the spread between bid and ask prices simply became too wide. This trend has continued in the first half of 2023, leading to sluggish investment dynamics. The investment volume reached EUR 3.65 billion (-47%) as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach. Deteriorating financing conditions, uncertainty about economic prospects, and an unknown number of potential future rate increases all contribute significantly to the current sentiment.

Get the full Netherlands property market picture with all the market data by downloading the reports.