The Belgian real estate market in turbulence
How will we remember our 2022 in the real estate market? 2021 was the year in which the market became overheated in response to the exceptional situation caused by the pandemic. However, by the end of 2021, the numbers seemed to already indicate a cautious cooling of the market. But how did the market react to soaring inflation, the energy crisis, and rising interest rates in 2022, making it increasingly less feasible for households to buy a property?
This report aims to shed light on two questions that have been fiercely debated throughout 2022. First, can we finally speak of a market cooldown? And second, what impact has the energy crisis had on property prices?
Many buyers probably saw the writing on the wall at the beginning of the year. With rising interest rates and no end in sight to high inflation, the market became significantly more volatile in the second quarter. Houses suddenly became 3% more expensive and disappeared from the market 3 weeks faster. However, that overheating proved to be short-lived. The ongoing crisis might have deterred buyers, as today we can clearly state that the market has cooled down. You can read everything in more detail here.
Another consequence of the energy crisis was that the energy efficiency of homes suddenly took center stage. We have known for a while that Belgium is dealing with an outdated housing stock and we are far from the 2050 energy targets. Our analyses indicate that the scarcity of energy-efficient homes, combined with the energy crisis, has further driven up the prices of energy-efficient properties. Read our complete report on the price trends of energy-efficient homes here.
