After several shootings and nuisance by drug users, it was clear to Anouar (42) from Sint-Gillis: he is selling his house and will leave Sint-Gillis. This decision follows several unsuccessful attempts to change the quality of life in his neighborhood.
Anouar may not be the only one who leaves certain Brussels neighborhoods behind and seeks other places. Do the shootings have an impact on the real estate market? Not yet, say several experts Le Soir.
Demand remains high
According to Kim Ruysen, CEO of the Trevi Network, for every tenant or owner who leaves their home, “there are five others rushing to take over.” This is because demand is currently “so high and supply so small” that the risk of vacancy is minimal.
“I have not heard of a single customer who no longer wants to buy or rent because he is afraid,” notes Sébastien Mullenders, franchisee of the Myimmo network, which has a branch on Alsembersesteenweg near Hoogte Hundred, where a shooting took place a few weeks ago. . “People see these events as isolated incidents. It doesn’t disrupt the market in any way.”
For the time being, the municipalities of Sint-Gillis and Vorst remain attractive: they are highly sought after and prices continue to rise. “I feel like it would really take a sharp increase in shootings for people to start to hesitate,” added real estate agent Mullenders.
Jean Martroye, a notary from Forest, makes the link with the attacks in 2016. “At that time, the municipality of Molenbeek and the district around Sint-Denijsplein in Forest were in the spotlight for weeks. What do we see now, years later? Prices have risen there just as much as elsewhere…”
Real estate investors
The impact on the housing market will remain limited for the time being. Sheelam Chadha of Atenor warns that real estate developers may become reluctant. An image as a ‘drug capital’ can certainly harm Brussels.
“If the shootings were to continue to happen constantly, in the future we might think twice before buying in a municipality or a problem area of the city,” she emphasized at MIPIM, the largest international market for real estate professionals fair in Cannes. “But we’re not there yet.”
