Amsterdam properties cheaper than other EU cities

According to a profile by the New York Times, anyone considering investing in property in the Dutch capital is onto a good thing.

"The prices in Amsterdam are extremely reasonable compared to other cities in Europe," said Barbara van der Grijp, a managing partner at listing agency Engel and Volkers, to the paper.

While cities like Berlin and London have seen real estate prices rise by 10 per cent in the last year, Amsterdam’s prices are generally "lower than five years ago and very interesting for investing," she said.

This follows investment advice in a recent survey naming Amsterdam as a great city for property investment in student housing, given it is the second most expensive in Europe.

How much?

Looking at central Amsterdam, prices for apartments, the vast majority of residences in the area, range from around 150.000 up to five million euros.

Whole houses are rare and quite expensive, while parking garages are even harder to find and start around 50.000 euros.

Exclusive properties on the main canals, that is, Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht, Herengracht and Singel, average around 5.000 to 9.000 euros a square metre, which is on a par with prices in Oud-Zuid near Museumplein.

Who can afford it?

According to van der Grijp, foreign are clamouring for exclusive properties in prime locations, boosting house prices by 1,9 per cent at the end of last year.

Traditionally, the largest group of investors come from Britain, France and Germany, but over the last years there have been increasingly more Russians and Chinese, as well as some Israelis and Australians.

The only problem is that, for people who don’t live, work or pay taxes in the Netherlands, getting a mortgage is quite hard. That may not be a problem, however, for a lot of those buyers.

Source: New York Times, PIE