ING: house prices in Belgium to rise three per cent on average in 2025
House prices in Belgium would rise by an average of 3 per cent in 2025 and by 3.8 per cent in 2026, according to the latest real estate barometer of the bank ING. If inflation is also factored in, the increase would be 0.9 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively. The number of transactions would also increase again, now that a lot of buyers see that interest rates will not fall any further.
More than half of Belgians feel that houses have already become unaffordable. However, the idea that young people can no longer buy a home is more prevalent among the older generations than among young people themselves. The fall in mortgage rates this year has however improved affordability, say ING economists, “because potential buyers can borrow more for the same monthly payment”.
The improved affordability has also had a positive effect on the number of transactions on the market, which again increased significantly in the second quarter of 2024. ING expects those transactions to increase further in 2025 too, “if a lot of buyers abandon their wait-and-see attitude once they realise that interest rates will not return to pre-2022 lows”. For 2025, the bank assumes a stabilisation to possibly even a slight increase in long-term interest rates.
Still, concerns about housing affordability are not unfounded, ING economists warn. There is the effect of mortgage interest rates, but also of government measures such as the renovation obligation in Flanders. This was already causing an increasing price difference between homes with a high and low energy performance score (EPC).
That price gap will continue to exist, but may become slightly smaller as demand for energy-hungry houses will increase significantly after the abolition of the renovation obligation in Flanders. The drop in registration fees from 2025 would have “a modest upward impact” on prices.
Houses for sale in Oudenaarde © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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