The Belgian real estate market is going through a phase of turbulence. Prices are increasing moderately, but the continuous increase in mortgage rates foreign the purchasing capacity of households. The new market becomes almost inaccessible. Even in existing real estate, the surface that the buyer candidate can afford is reduced to sight.
The last real estate price barometer published by Immoweb for the second quarter 2025 illustrates this trend: with a monthly payment of 1,200 euros, Belgian households can now acquire much less area than a year ago. In Brussels, we went from 62 m² to 57 m², in Antwerp from 85 m² to 78 m², and at Ghent from 88 m² to 81 m².
Despite a salary indexing of 3.5 % in January 2025, the rise in property purchasing power remains limited. It is hampered by the stability of interest rates and the continuous increase in real estate prices. At the national level, the average real estate purchasing power amounts to around 115 m², a level still lower than that observed before the rate crisis of 2022. At the beginning of that year, the average real estate purchasing power in Belgium amounted to around 127 m² for a monthly payment of 1,200 euros, according to the historic data of Immoweb and Belfius. It then dropped at the end of 2023 to approximately 103 m² (loss of 24 m² linked to the increase in rates) to go up slightly in 2025. This means that despite the rebound, the property purchasing power remains 12 m² at its avant-crisis level.
Increase in mortgage rates
This contraction is explained above all by the increase in mortgage rates, which crossed the 3 % mark on average over 20 years. According to the Immotheker Finotheker rate barometer, the average rate is 3.24% when writing these lines. In two years, this represents a doubling of the funding cost, without real estate prices having really dropped. In 2022, the rates were approximately 1.52 %.
The observation is even more brutal on the side of the new accommodation. THE New construction barometer*, published jointly by Matexi and Realo, reveals that only 4.2 % of Belgian households can still afford a new apartment, and 2.4 % a new house*. In 2021, these percentages were still 9.1 % and 4.5 % respectively. This significant decline is due to several factors: a continuous increase in construction costs, a rise in mortgage rates and income which do not evolve as quickly as market constraints.
The new, more and more reserved for a minority
The trend is particularly marked in Brussels, where accessibility to new is the lowest in the country. In Wallonia, prices evolve more slowly ( +0.85 % for houses, +1.65 % for apartments), but the tension remains strong. In Flanders, the price increase is clearer, with +2.7 % for houses and +2.8 % for apartments.
A rebound in the production of credits… in trompe-l’oeil
Another data that challenges: despite permanently higher interest rates, the production of mortgage credits increased sharply in 2025 compared to 2024 and 2023. According to the ECB, the total amount of credits granted between January and April 2025 is +48 % greater than that recorded over the same period in 2024. Belfius Banque even evokes volumes almost comparable to those of the record year 2021.
This phenomenon of high resumption of the Belgian real estate market in the second quarter of 2025 is explained by several factors. The anticipation of a new increase in rates: some households have signed rapidly to lock a fixed rate. Energy renovations (often compulsory or encouraged) increase the amount of transactions. Some banking institutions have released their conditions for solvent customers. The reduction of registration fees since January 1 (at 3% in Wallonia and 2% in Flanders for clean and unique housing) is also an important lever to stimulate real estate purchases.
But this revival remains fragile. The number of credits remains historically low, and the majority of borrowers are today high -income households, often double salary, capable of absorbing a high rate over 25 or 30 years.
New prices follow inflation
According to Matexi and Realo data, the prices of a house and a new average apartment increased by 2.36 % and 2.50 % compared to last year respectively. These increases follow the pace of general inflation, which means that prices remain stable in real terms. The long -term trend of a gradual increase in prices therefore continues. In Flanders, the prices of new houses and new apartments continue to progress. New houses cost 2.68 % more than a year ago, new 2.81 % apartments. In Wallonia, the trend is more contrasted. The prices of new apartments increased by 1.65 %, while those of houses stagnate, with an increase limited to 0.85 %.
In Brussels, where the offer in new houses is very limited, only data on new apartments are available. These reveal stagnation for the second consecutive quarter, with an annual evolution of +0.04 %.
The new inaccessible
The figures confirm this: the exclusion of an increasing part of households from the real estate market is no longer cyclical, it becomes structural. As Roel Helgers (Matexi) points out: “The increase in mortgage rates, combined with the increase in construction costs, creates a real storm in the real estate market: the cost of new property is increasingly exceeding household budget. That it occurs at a time when demand for housing has never been so strong is particularly worrying, especially for young families and vulnerable groups. »»
Even the stable prices in real terms, as in Brussels (+0.04 % for apartments in T2 2025), are no longer enough to reverse the trend, as the funding capacity of households has melted, notes Matexi/Realo.
An upturn via a drop in rates?
The ECB has started a rate of drop in rates, but the effects on mortgage credit will only be felt slowly. Until then, Belgium will have to rethink its tax incentives, its regulatory framework, and undoubtedly dare to ask the question of accessibility as a public priority, failing which, access to property will become a privilege reserved for an urban elite.
In summary, prices are increasing moderately, but high mortgage rates lower the purchase capacity. New becomes a niche market, accessible to less than 5 % of households. The recovery of credits is technical and limited. There is not the sign of a in -depth recovery. The risk of market paralysis is growing, in the absence of adjustment of tax or monetary policies.
*Matexi/Realo is based on simulation with a fixed rate mortgage over 20 years, assuming that maximum 33 % of monthly income is devoted to housing charges. The calculation requires a contribution equivalent to 20 % of the purchase price. It is based on current mortgage rates and Belgium statistics income statistics. It takes into account costs such as registration fees and VAT.
*The new construction barometer follows the evolution of the price (excluding VAT) of an average Belgian house, namely a three -façades of 160 m2 with three bedrooms, a bathroom and a garden. In the apartments segment, the reference property is an apartment of 95 m² with two bedrooms and one of baths.
