Renovation market in Antwerp sees unprecedented growth
The Gazet van Antwerpen reports that in five years, the number of renovation requests in the province of Antwerp has increased by 59%. Based on figures from Realo, the newspaper sees a significant role for the declining value of energy-consuming houses.
In the first ten months of 2021, 10,082 renovation requests for houses were submitted in Antwerp, 13% more than last year and 59% more than in 2018, writes the Gazet van Antwerpen. Marc Dillen from Embuild Flanders attributes in the newspaper the increase to the new rule that buyers of houses with an EPC label E or F must renovate these to at least D within five years.
But another reason is found with the sellers themselves, who possibly saw the value of their property decrease in the last year. Similar to the rest of Flanders, the value of energy-consuming houses in the province of Antwerp also declined. Realo examined at the request of the newspaper how the prices have evolved: houses with energy label D in the third quarter were 2% cheaper per square meter than in 2022, and label F houses dropped almost 4% in price. On the other hand, houses with the energy-efficient label A or B increased in price by 6% this year.
According to Johan Van Gompel, real estate specialist at KBC, that gap between energy-efficient and energy-consuming houses will only widen in the future.
