More people from outside the province are buying a home in Friesland. These newcomers mainly settle in rural areas and the small centers in the west of the province.
This is evident from a study by the Land Registry that was carried out on behalf of the province of Fryslân.
The Land Registry has calculated that last year approximately 1,400 existing homes were purchased by people from outside Friesland. That is 20 percent of the total number of owner-occupied homes (more than 7,200) that changed owners. The number of 1,400 is significantly higher than in the period from 2009 onwards, when there was an average of around 820 houses per year.
North Hollanders in particular are moving to Friesland
More than a quarter of the newcomers come from North Holland (373 homes, 27 percent) with Groningen as a close second (281 homes, 20 percent). Our province is not popular among southerners. Only 3 percent of the incoming students come from Zeeland, North Brabant and Limburg. The buyers are mainly people moving through. This means that they have sold their previous home to settle in Friesland.
Category 25 to 34 years is the largest group
The age of the newcomers is striking. The largest group falls into the age category 25 to 34 years, followed by the category 55 to 64 years. The idea that the Frisian housing market is mainly popular with retirees is therefore incorrect.
The majority of newcomers settle in the west of the province (approximately 60 percent), buy a slightly more expensive home than the Frisian buyer, and also like to live in the countryside. More than 40 percent of entrants buy a home in the countryside or in a village with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants.
Share of Frisians approximately 25 percent
The Land Registry also looked at the percentage of returnees, or the share of Frisians who move back to the Netherlands. That was 25 percent last year, slightly more than in 2021. But there has been a decline over a long period. In 2009, for example, the percentage of returnees was still 35 percent.
The Land Registry figures also show that the number of Frisian homeowners leaving the province is significantly lower than the number of new homeowners from outside Friesland. Last year there were 575 and from 2009 on 7,600 so-called outflowers. They mainly move to Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.
Corona effect?
Chairman Willem Donker of the Frisian NVM real estate agents cannot really recognize the high share of home buyers from outside the province. “That was always about 10 percent and now it is 20 percent. There may be a corona effect – employees discover working from home in a more spacious home with a garden – but still.”
However, he is not surprised that the 25-34 age group has the largest number of buyers. “I also see that in our company. These are often people who were born in the North, studied elsewhere and have just become parents and want their children to grow up in a spacious, clean and protected environment.”
