The housing Market: Belgium versus The Netherlands

The Belgian Housing Market: What 66% Home Ownership Tells the Netherlands

After Spain and Italy, The Experience Net series turns to Belgium. Four articles compare the Belgian housing market with the Dutch one: first the housing market in general (this article), then student housing, senior housing and finally co-living. The thread running through all four is the same question: what can the Netherlands learn from the choices the other country makes, and what role does government play in them?

The Figures

An average Belgian home cost € 346.648 in 2025, up 5,1% year on year. In the first quarter of 2026 the average house price stood at € 359.965, a more moderate 2,8% above the 2025 annual average. Regional differences are wide: a house in Flanders averaged € 395.829 in the first quarter of 2026, in Brussels around € 600.000, in Wallonia just over € 270.000.

For comparison: the Netherlands records a statistical housing shortage of 384.000 homes in 2026, 4,6% of the stock. According to ABF, at a production rate of 100.000 homes per year the Dutch market only reaches a healthy balance around 2034. Belgium completed 53.800 new homes in 2024, or 4,56 homes per 1.000 inhabitants: sixth place in Europe and, at 10% growth, the second-strongest increase on the continent. At the same time, project starts fell by 8%, putting the Belgian pipeline under pressure as well.

The essential difference lies not in construction output but in ownership structure. In Belgium two thirds of households own their home; in Flanders the figure is 71%. The social rental sector covers around 7% of the stock and the private rental market is roughly 95% owned by private individuals. The Netherlands is the mirror image: a housing association sector of 28%, home ownership around 57% and a private rental sector that individual landlords are currently leaving.

What Does the Belgian Government Contribute?

The Belgian government steers primarily through taxation, on the demand side. Three measures stand out.

First, registration duties. Anyone buying their sole and own home in Flanders pays 2% registration duties; anyone who carries out a deep energy renovation within six years pays 1%. Every other home is taxed at 12%, and since 2026 enforcement of that distinction has tightened. Compare this with Dutch transfer tax, where investor rates have acted as a brake on the rental market in recent years.

Second, the 6% VAT rate on demolition and reconstruction. Since 1 July 2025 this rate applies permanently, including to developers, and explicitly to investors who let the new home as a primary residence for at least 15 years. Government thereby links renewal of the stock directly to long-term rental supply.

Third, consistency. Belgian housing taxation changes gradually and predictably. Private individuals therefore dare to invest in a second home for letting; the average return of 3 to 3,5% is modest, but the supply exists.

What Can the Netherlands Learn?

First: activate private capital for the rental market. Belgium shows that a private rental sector carried by hundreds of thousands of small landlords can function, provided the fiscal rules are stable. In the Netherlands, individual landlords are exiting instead.

Second: tie fiscal incentives to performance. The Flemish distinction between 2% and 1% registration duties steers towards energy renovation; the 6% scheme steers towards renewal and letting. That is more targeted than generic demand subsidies.

Third: be honest about the trade-off. The Belgian model has a price. The social rental sector is small, and in Flanders 176.026 people are waiting for a social home, sometimes for ten years. Copying the Belgian model without a safety net shifts the problem to the bottom of the market. The lesson therefore runs both ways: Belgium shows how to mobilise private capital, the Netherlands how to organise an affordable segment.

The question is therefore not whether the Netherlands should adopt the Belgian model, but which parts of it bring the Dutch target of 100.000 homes per year closer. The next article looks at the first group where that difference becomes visible: students.

Sources

• Fednot, Vastgoedbarometer / Notary Barometer Q1 and Q2 2026 (average house prices Belgium, Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia)

• Statbel, residential property price statistics 2025

• KBC Economics, ING and BNP Paribas Fortis, Belgian house price forecasts 2026

• Deloitte, Property Index 2025 (completions and project starts Belgium 2024)

• Statbel / Census (ownership structure: 66% Belgium, 71% Flanders)

• Association of Flemish Housing Companies (VVH), via Follow the Money (share of social rental and private landlords in Belgium)

• Flemish Tax Administration (VLABEL), registration duties 2026: 2%, 1% and 12% rates

• Belgian Federal Public Service Finance, programme act of 29 July 2025 (6% VAT on demolition and reconstruction)

• Pano / VRT NWS, March 2024 (social housing waiting list Flanders: 176.026 people)

• Dutch Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning / ABF Research, statistical housing shortage 2026 (384.000 homes, 4,6%)

• Staat van de Volkshuisvesting (Dutch housing association share: 28%)