{"id":20053,"date":"2013-01-04T19:33:21","date_gmt":"2013-01-04T18:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/87.233.157.209\/~pc22\/herengracht-70-b-amsterdam-financial-times\/"},"modified":"2020-02-14T02:14:43","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T02:14:43","slug":"herengracht-70-b-amsterdam-financial-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/herengracht-70-b-amsterdam-financial-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to take the plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Herengracht 70-B, Amsterdam, The Netherlands<\/strong>
\nBy Nick Foster<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The-Prinsengracht-canal,-one-of-three-main-canals-in-Amsterdam-in-the-Netherlands\"<\/p>\n

The Prinsengracht canal, one of three main canals in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amsterdam is associated with many things \u2013 canals lined with gracious townhouses, locals of all ages riding bicycles, great art, and an easy\u00adgoing (or strikingly lax, depending on your point of view) attitude to recreational drug use \u2013 but a pronounced housing slump hardly springs to mind.<\/p>\n

But this is what is happening: according to Statistics Netherlands the value of residential properties in the city fell by an average of 7.4 per cent in the 12 months up to the end of September.<\/p>\n

With many commentators predicting that home prices will drop further, domestic buyers are increasingly reluctant to take the plunge. More stringent
\nlending criteria and uncertainty over the future of the country\u2019s generous tax breaks to homeowners repaying mortgages have also depressed the market.<\/p>\n

For international cash buyers the moment has come to pounce: \u201cWe have seen lots of bargain hunters from obvious countries such as the US, the UK, France and Germany, but also Russia, Australia and South Africa,\u201d says Charles Grayson, joint owner of 27 Huis Real Estate, who estimates that 70 per cent of his business comes from non\u00adDutch clients.<\/p>\n

Most international buyers want a pied\u00ada\u0300\u00adterre on a canal with period features needing no additional modernisation. High on their wish\u00adlist is an open\u00adplan kitchen and a second bathroom, according to Grayson.<\/p>\n

\u201cDutch buyers want these things too, of course, but many are not willing to pay a premium and are often satisfied with a single bathroom and a closed, galley\u00adstyle kitchen,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In the Jordaan, a trendy, village\u00adlike district of tranquil canals and speciality stores to the west of downtown, \u20ac649,000 is the asking price for a 143 sq metre, four\u00adstorey townhouse with three bedrooms, available through 27 Huis Real Estate. The property was renovated in 2006, with the kitchen moved up two floors to bring it closer to the roof terrace, to make barbecuing easier. And new skylights give the home a feeling of space, an important consideration in a city where even rooms in upmarket properties can sometimes feel rather claustrophobic.<\/p>\n

It is easy to see why the perfectly gentrified, former working\u00adclass Jordaan is a favourite of overseas buyers, but it is also a place of contrast, with a pervasive, kooky atmosphere rather at odds with a deep\u00adrooted conservatism.<\/p>\n

On the one hand the smell of cannabis hangs in the air outside coffee shops, and businesses exist in self\u00adconsciously odd combinations \u2013 a vintage record shop combines with an organic grocer, for instance, and a hair salon is also an artist\u2019s atelier. But residents and store owners keep their streets clean, homeowners put up countless signs instructing cyclists where not to park their bikes, and everyone paints their door and window frames white.<\/p>\n

Broeren & Wiegers is asking \u20ac1.69m for a 300 sq metre apartment in a mansion overlooking the Herengracht canal in the so\u00adcalled \u201ccanal belt\u201d, an area made up of the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht canals that has been made a Unesco World Heritage site for its wealth of 17th\u00adcentury architecture. The property has four bedrooms, parquet floors and four\u00admetre high ceilings. There is no garage but Centraal railway station and Dam Square \u2013 where the royal palace is located \u2013 are both 10 minutes\u2019 walk away.<\/p>\n

Buyers with cars in Amsterdam\u2019s historical centre will have to look for a garage \u2013 a space costs from between \u20ac50,000 and \u20ac100,000 depending on size and location, according to agent Sander Wiegers \u2013 or join the queue for a resident\u2019s parking permit, which can take up to five years to be granted.
\nModern alternatives include a nine\u00adbedroom house with four reception rooms and a garden on a 589 sq metre plot in the leafy Amsterdam South district, convenient for Schiphol airport. The property has space for four cars and the asking price is \u20ac3.99m through Knight \ufffcFrank.<\/p>\n

\"A-four\u00adbedroom-period-property-overlooking-the-Herengracht-canal-on-sale-for-\u20ac1.69m\"<\/p>\n

\ufffcA four\u00adbedroom period property overlooking the Herengracht canal on sale for \u20ac1.69m.<\/em><\/p>\n

Parking restrictions aside, Amsterdam is experiencing a near\u00adperfect storm for overseas buyers. Prices are dropping but the housing stock has never been in better condition: during the boom years, Dutch banks routinely included large amounts for renovations in mortgage contracts, sometimes even paying builders directly. Meanwhile, the government has tried to stimulate the property market by cutting transfer tax from 6 per cent of the purchase price to 2 per cent.
\nSecond\u00adhome owners also have a safety net in the form of the city\u2019s healthy expat rental market. The wider Dutch economy is in the doldrums but Amsterdam, with its busy international airport just outside the city at Schiphol, and acres of shiny new offices on the south side of town, is still a popular base for business. In 2011, 118 new international companies set up offices in Amsterdam, creating jobs for 1,231 people, according to Amsterdam city hall \u2013 a hike of 18 per cent compared with the previous year.
\nLife in the city can be rewarding, according to Melanie Brown, a fashion designer originally from Buckinghamshire in the UK who moved to the city in 1989 and now has a boutique, Brown Clothes, and studio in the Jordaan.
\n\u201cAmsterdam is a compact city, it\u2019s easy to get around and it\u2019s not overwhelming. It\u2019s also beautiful, and I feel privileged cycling to work in the morning and stopping on a canal bridge to take in the view,\u201d says Brown.
\n\ufffcCulturally, the city is expecting a boost this spring when the Rijksmuseum opens its doors again after years of refurbishment. In September, the city\u2019s Stedelijk Museum, housing an important collection of modern and contemporary art, re\u00adopened after more than a decade of renovations.
\nExamples of Dutch ingenuity are never far away, even in an ailing housing market. At IJburg, on the east side of the city, a new island with homes for 700 families will be created out of sand dredged from shipping channels. The first residents should be moving in by 2017.
\n\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n

Buying Guide<\/h4>\n

\u2022 The city has 780,000 inhabitants and an estimated 881,000 bicycles
\n\u2022 It has an inventory of 8,863 buildings from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
\n\u2022 There are an estimated 16,000 concerts and theatrical performances held in Amsterdam each year
\n\u2022 Amsterdam is home to the third\u00ad biggest Japanese community in Europe (after London and Dusseldorf)
\n\u2022 Estate agent and legal fees, plus a 2 per cent property transfer tax, add approximately 5\u00ad6 per cent to the purchase price (about 7 per cent if a mortgage is needed)
\nWhat you can buy for …
\n\u20ac500,000: A renovated two\u00adbedroom apartment just outside the centre
\n\u20ac1m: A three\u00adbedroom apartment in the canal belt
\n\u20ac5m: A 600 sq metre loft residence on a canal in the centre of Amsterdam, with a separate maid\u2019s flat and private parking
\nFirstFT \u00ad Twitter earnings, Saudi Selling greenbacks ahead of the Greek aid line\u00adup succession shake\u00adup Fed
\n\ufffc\ufffc\ufffc\ufffc\ufffc\ufffc
\n\"pdf-icon@2x\"Download advertentie als PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2015 FT and \u2018Financial Times\u2019 are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Herengracht 70-B, Amsterdam, The Netherlands By Nick Foster The Prinsengracht canal, one of three main canals in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Amsterdam is associated with many things \u2013 canals lined with gracious townhouses, locals of all ages riding bicycles, great art, and an easy\u00adgoing (or strikingly lax, depending on your point of view) attitude to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publicaties-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20054,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20053\/revisions\/20054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pc22.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}