New platform compares housing prices across Belgium at a glance

Real estate listings website Immoweb has developed a platform where homebuyers can see at a glance the least – and most – expensive provinces in Belgium to buy a house or apartment. A quick look, for instance, reveals that almost all of Wallonia is cheaper than almost all of Flanders, and that Brussels is the priciest of all.

The calculations come from Immoweb’s own data, taking in recent asking prices and social-demographic information such as the population, average income and urban development. According to Immoweb, the average price per square metre in Belgium is €2,135.

But when you split off houses from apartments, you see a big difference: €2,766 per square metre for an apartment, while houses are €1,885 per square metres.

It's also possible to target a particular province to see a more detailed analysis. So you discover that, while Brussels is the most expensive region (€3,531 per square metre for apartments), Knokke-Heist is the most expensive municipality in the country, with apartments going for a whopping €5,242 per square metre.

And while Flemish Brabant is a rather expensive province, you might be surprised to find that the average price per square metre around and east of Leuven is an even more than in the green belt around Brussels. But break that down into municipalities, and it’s clear that properties in Wemmel and Kraainem in the Brussels periphery are still far more expensive than in the far east of the province, in Zoutleeuw and Scherpenheuvel, for instance.

For the larger cities, you can even get a run-down of the most and least expensive streets on which to buy a property. Users of the map should keep in mind, however, that all data is based on the asking price of properties listed on Immoweb, not on the price actually paid.

When it comes to Brussels, it’s no surprise that Woluwe-Saint-Pierre and Ixelles are the most expensive municipalities, while Koekelberg and Molenbeek are the cheapest.

The platform also has an estimate function so you can see how much your own property is worth. Take this with a grain of salt: It uses basic information you provide, not taking into account current market value. A quick test carried out by The Bulletin showed that properties were valued up to €75,000 less than sellers recently received.