House prices in Belgium’s Flanders region have lost value for the first time in a decade, as a result of rising mortgage rates and renovation costs.
Although the average price for a house in 2023 increased by 0.3% year-on-year, the figures for the second half of 2023 reveal a drop of 1.9%, according to real estate platform Era.
The cooling of the market is also noticeable in the average sales time. While houses were still for sale for an average of 85 days in 2022, it took 103 days (+21%) to sell a similar property in 2023.
Stringent EPC home energy regulations in Flanders are boosting energy-efficient flats while dragging down energy-guzzling houses.
Homes with EPC scores of E or F have lost much more value (+3.7%) than homes with scores of A or B. Overall, an EPC A home is now 17.1% more expensive than a similar EPC D home.
Since the start of 2023, buyers of homes with a low energy rating in Flanders are obliged to upgrade the property to at least a D rating within five years, leading to energy-guzzling houses being offered for sale at lower prices.
However, apartments are not following the example of houses. The Era Barometer shows that the average price of an apartment in 2023 was 3.1% higher than in 2022 (+1.5% in Q4 2023).
The Walloon real estate market is gradually cooling. Although house prices have increased by 2.4% compared to 2022, growth is gradually slowing down (from +5% in 2022), following the trend observed in the Flemish real estate market.
Contrary to the Flemish homeowners, Walloons are not systematically forced to include a short-term renovation budget in their calculations. Thus have more margin for the purchase of their home, and this is why prices are increasing further.
In the French-speaking part of Belgium, it took on average 118 days to sell a property in 2023 compared to 88 days in 2022 for a comparable home.
In Brussels, the number of apartment sales was four times higher than house sales over the last ten years (according to Statbel), with apartment prices increasing by 2% compared to 2022. The price of apartments in the capital varies greatly, depending on more than 60 factors which together influence up to 85% of the value of an apartment.
