Huge jump in properties for sale, says listing agency
The number of houses and apartments listed for sale in Luxembourg more than tripled between the end of 2021 and the first quarter of this year, real estate listing agency Immotop said on Friday, attributed to the easing of pandemic restrictions and the resumption of construction work.
There was a 236% increase in the number of houses being put up for sale and a 220% rise in apartments going on the market, according to Immotop, which lists properties from different estate agents.
"The end of the health crisis and the resumption of various construction work could partly explain this promising start to the year", Immotop said in its report.
However, the general trend across the country was not replicated in the capital. There was a 8% drop in the number of properties being put on the market in Luxembourg City, according to the study.
A drop of between 2.5 and 4% was noted in housing prices nationwide, with the median cost of a house standing at €1.2 million at the start of this year, and €800,000 for an apartment, the report said.
The capital, however, was once again an exception to the general rule - registering a price increase of around 1.5% between the final quarter of 2021 and first quarter of 2022. The median cost of a house in Luxembourg City now comes in at €2.1 million, and an apartment €937,000, according to Immotop.
The commune of Bertrange remains the most expensive area in which to buy a house in the country, while Belair is the costliest district of the capital.
Rambrouch, the western commune close to the Belgian border, is the cheapest location for purchasing a house, with the least expensive houses in Luxembourg City to be found in Dommeldange, according to Immotop.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority of properties available reflect the most desirable areas of the country - the south and centre, closest to the capital - but supply in the border towns and the north is beginning to grow, Immotop said.
Thousands of housing units are standing empty in Luxembourg, according to research bodies and pressure groups, a sign real estate speculation is aggravating one of Europe's worst housing squeezes, which is increasingly forcing less well-off residents out of the country.
In March, the International Monetary Fund urged the government to urgently intervene in the housing market. Recent government steps to address the housing shortage, such as plans to tax owners of empty dwellings and order land owners to build on their plot, may face obstacles and will take time to produce results, the IMF said in its assessment.
The price of a flat in Luxembourg almost doubled between the start of 2013 and the end of last year, figures from the country's official statistics agency Statec showed last month. Overall, real estate in Luxembourg almost doubled in value in the decade from 2010, the third-highest increase in the EU in that period.
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