House prices on Belgian coast rising less quickly than national average

If your dream is a house or flat by the Belgian coast, now is perhaps the time to look, according to new statistics from property website Immoweb.

Seaside property prices are still much higher than in the rest of the country, but between July 2023 and July 2024 they rose more moderately than at the national level. This is the first time this has happened in three years, according to Immoweb.

According to its survey, the average price of flats on the coast reached €4,088 per square metre in July 2024. This represents an increase of 13.5% over three years. Nationally, a flat sells for an average €3,034 per square metre, an average increase of 9%.

But although these flat prices remain overvalued, their 1.2% increase this year is less than the 1.7% rise across the country.

According to Immoweb, higher interest rates have slowed the growth in prices at the seaside. By municipality, Bredene, 7km from Ostend, saw the biggest increase in coastal flat prices between July 2023 and July 2024, with an average rise of 10.5%.

However, Bredene remains the most affordable coastal town, with an average price 30% below the norm for the Belgian coast.

At the other end of the price scale Knokke-Heist, with its designer shops, upmarket restaurants and art galleries, is one of the most expensive towns to buy or rent property, both by the sea and countrywide, Immoweb said.

The average price of flats in this chic town fell by 2.4% this July 2024 compared to July 2023. But over the last five and three years, prices had risen by 36.4% and 17.9% respectively – and Immoweb points out that a flat in Knokke will still be 137% more expensive than one in Bredene.

Meanwhile, the median price of a detached house countrywide in 2023 was €365,000, 2.5% more than in 2022. The median cost of a flat was €239,000, a 4% increase over 2022 figures.

The median price is the middle sale price across the range of properties sold in a particular location over a specific period of time. It represents the value where half of the sales are above and half are below it.

Wallonia is the region where prices were cheapest in 2023. The median price for a detached house was for example €105,000 in Hastière, Namur province and €119,000 for Colfontaine in Hainaut. Unsurprisingly the Walloon Brabant has the most expensive median house prices outside the capital, notably in Lasne (€632,000), Waterloo (€522,000) and Rixensart (€480,000).

In Brussels, where the median house price is €340,000, you will need most money to buy property in Ixelles (€827,500 for the average detached house), followed by Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (€736,500) and, something of a surprise, Saint-Gilles, for the first time ranked above Uccle.

In this commune, prices notably in the upper part of the commune have skyrocketed, with the median cost of a house now carrying a €681,250 price tag.