Search Q&A
Property market and the Covid-19
It is perhaps too early to see the real impact of the Corona virus on the property market, but a simple search of properties on sale does not show any sign of price drop. For those who are looking for a modest family house in Belgium, what would be the possible scenarios in the months ahead? Thanks for your thoughts. Stay safe.
@uruchbeg - Even in a normal market in Belgium, it is almost impossible to understand the short term underlying trends in the market because the market is extremely opaque, and there is essentially no public data available.
In my (albeit somewhat limited) experience of the market, you're unlikely to see any impact in advertised prices for homes for a long time (years).
When the financial crash happened back in 2008, advertised house prices basically did not go down, they just held steady for a couple of years. However, speak with any notaire and they'll tell you that houses were selling at big discounts to those advertised prices.
Personally, unless you have a cast iron job, a friendly bank, you happen to find your ideal "forever" home, and you don't intend to move for the next 20-30 years, I would tread extremely cautiously in the property market for the moment.
There may not be any immediate impact, but economically what we're living through right now is a trauma to the western economies that is unrivaled since the great depressions of the 1930's.
People quickly forget that property isn't always a good investment. Residential property prices in Japan right now are roughly 40% lower (in real terms) than they were 30 years ago back in the early 1990's. It's not unimaginable to see a similar situation happening here.
