In 2026 buyers in the city of Utrecht pay around 13.1% above the asking price on average. That doesn't mean you should automatically overbid by 13.1%. The asking price is a sales strategy and can deliberately be set below the market value. What you should bid depends on the market value of the specific house, the neighbourhood, the type of home, the competition and the conditions.
Contents
- Looking back at 2025
- How did 2026 begin?
- Less overbidding doesn't automatically mean lower prices
- There are clearly more houses for sale, though
- August shows an interesting shift
- Houses are on the market a little longer
- How much do you need to overbid in Utrecht?
- What do we expect for the rest of 2026?
- Overbidding in Utrecht in 2026: the interim score
Overbidding in Utrecht in 2026. Is it still necessary? The housing market is cooling, so do you still need to overbid? How does it work? How much do you need to overbid in Utrecht in 2026? Is it still necessary to bid tens of thousands of euros above the asking price, or is there finally a bit more room for buyers? These are questions we get practically every week, so this year we're once again keeping track of how the Utrecht housing market develops.
Just like in 2025, we look not only at the average percentage by which people overbid, but also, and especially, at transaction prices, prices per square metre, supply, the number of sales and the scarcity in the market. Because, as we saw last year, a single figure can sometimes tell a very different story from what you'd think at first. Interpreting it correctly is important.
Looking back at 2025
In 2025 overbidding in Utrecht remained the rule rather than the exception. We wrote about this in 2024 too. Although clearly more houses came onto the market, partly because investors were selling former rental homes, demand for good houses remained high. In January the average overbid was still around 12%, and during the spring that percentage rose further. In June buyers paid an average of 14.4% above the asking price, and after the summer the percentage stayed high too. Only towards the end of the year did the market slowly calm down a little.
What we mainly noticed during 2025 was that the differences between houses grew. Not every apartment was automatically sold within a few days any more, certainly not when the finish was basic, there was little outdoor space or the location was just a little less attractive. At the same time, well-finished houses with good gardens and roof terraces in popular locations remained hugely popular, and there we still saw bids coming in far above the asking price. So more supply didn't automatically mean there was enough supply of exactly the houses many buyers are looking for.
How did 2026 begin?
The year started with a small dip and some cooling. January began remarkably quietly. Buyers paid an average of 10.3% above the asking price, compared with 11.9% in January 2025. The average price per square metre was also slightly lower than a year earlier, at €6,332. 209 houses were sold and supply stood at 290 houses.
For buyers that may briefly have seemed like good news, but January is always a special month on the Utrecht housing market. Last year, too, we saw a relatively quiet start to the year, after which the market picked up considerably again in February and March. We joked back then that maybe you should just always buy a house in January, and in hindsight there seems to be something in that again in 2026.
Because in February the average overbidding percentage had already risen to 13.2%. In March buyers paid an average of 13.4% above the asking price, in April 14.4% and in May as much as 14.8%. That means overbidding in the spring of 2026 was at times even higher than in the same period a year earlier. From June we see a different movement again. The percentage fell to 13.8%, came in at 13.2% in July and dropped further to 12.7% in August.
Less overbidding doesn't automatically mean lower prices
At first glance that looks like good news for buyers. Going from 14.8% overbidding in May to 12.7% in August is a clear drop. Yet it doesn't automatically mean that houses have become cheaper. The average price per square metre paints a different picture. In January it came in at €6,332, in February at €6,624 and in April at €6,903. In June the €7,000 mark was even passed for the first time this year, with the average price coming in at €7,078 per square metre. In July it dropped back to €6,764, but in August the price had already risen again to €6,853 per square metre.
For comparison: in August 2025 the average price per square metre was €6,611. So overbidding is lower than a few months ago, but the price per square metre is still higher than a year ago. That may sound contradictory, but it's actually very logical once you realise that the overbidding percentage is always calculated relative to the asking price. And that asking price isn't a fixed given, but part of the sales strategy. When sellers and estate agents choose higher or more realistic asking prices, the average overbidding percentage can fall while the final selling prices simply stay the same or even rise.
There are clearly more houses for sale, though
What stands out most in 2026 is the strong growth in supply. In January there were 290 houses for sale, in February there were already 442, and in July supply rose to 648 houses. In July 2025 there were 581, and in July 2024 only 417. So buyers clearly have more choice than two years ago, but at the same time a lot of houses are being sold too. In July 426 transactions were registered, the highest number in 2026 so far. That clearly shows that the extra supply isn't simply sitting there, but is largely being absorbed by the market again.
As a result, the scarcity indicator is rising slightly. In January it stood at 1.3 and in August at 1.6. That gives buyers a little more choice than at the extremely tight moments of recent years, but there's still no question of a loose market. So the Utrecht housing market is less overheated than at some points in 2024 and 2025, but it clearly remains a seller's market.
August shows an interesting shift
The August figures are interesting because, for the first time since January, they show an average overbid below 13%. At the same time the average transaction price fell from €570,000 in July to €539,000 in August. If you only look at that amount, you might think houses have suddenly become a lot cheaper, but the average price per square metre actually rose, from €6,764 to €6,853. So in August mainly different types of houses were sold, smaller and cheaper on average, which makes the average total selling price fall while the price per square metre actually rises.
With apartments you can see that difference even more clearly. In August 2026 the average price per square metre came in at €7,081, compared with €6,680 in August 2025. Terraced houses came in at €6,512 per square metre in August, practically the same level as a year earlier. It shows once again that you need to be careful with general statements about “the housing market”, because developments can differ considerably by type of home.
Houses are on the market a little longer
Besides prices and the overbidding percentage, the time on the market also stands out. The average time to sell rose from 23 days in July to 26 days in August. Houses that are still on the market had an average listing time of 40 days in August. That's clearly longer than earlier this year and suggests buyers are becoming more critical and not every house is automatically sold straight away any more.
We notice that in practice too. A well-finished house with lovely outdoor space and an attractive location can still be incredibly busy, while another house suddenly stays on Funda for two or three weeks. We also see purchases being dissolved more often. As a result, the quality of the house, the street, the layout, the finish and above all the chosen asking price are making more and more of a difference. We don't actually think that's a bad development, because a market in which every house is sold immediately without any nuance is ultimately healthy for no one. It does mean that styling and marketing become even more important.
How much do you need to overbid in Utrecht?
If you'd still like a single figure, you could say that in August buyers paid an average of 12.7% above the asking price. But we would never use that percentage to simply add 12.7% to every asking price on Funda. Because it says nothing about the real value of the specific house you want to buy. For Utrecht city alone, the average over the past year is 13.1%.
Suppose a house has a market value of €500,000 and is deliberately put on the market for €450,000. If you end up buying it for €500,000, you've overbid by more than 11%. If exactly the same house is offered for €495,000 and you also buy it for €500,000, you've overbid by only about 1%. In both cases the buyer pays exactly the same amount, while the percentage looks completely different. That's why we've been saying for years that you shouldn't start from the asking price, but from the value of the house. A house where you sometimes have to overbid by between €100,000 and €200,000 can still be a perfectly good deal.
So when buying, we look at comparable sales, the state of maintenance, the layout, the possibilities, the location, the expected valuation and the competition. Only once we know what we think the house is really worth do we decide which bidding strategy makes sense. Sometimes that means you have to bid well above the asking price and still make a good purchase. Sometimes it actually means you can buy below the asking price and still pay too much.
The best example is still that in 2021 we were welcomed more or less as heroes at a housewarming because we had bought a house for the asking price. I really wasn't happy at all. I genuinely felt we had paid too much. The buyer really wanted it, so we went ahead and bought it anyway. That same week we also bought a house for more than €125,000 above the asking price. The buyer's mother wasn't satisfied. Anyone could buy like that, she felt. But a few weeks later a house in the same street, in poorer condition and with a higher asking price, ended up selling for much more.
What do we expect for the rest of 2026?
Above all, the first eight months of the year show that a little more balance is slowly emerging. Supply is clearly larger, the overbidding percentage has been falling since May and houses are on the market slightly longer on average. At the same time prices per square metre remain high and a lot of houses are still being sold. For now, that points more to a normalising market than to real cooling.
The mortgage rate of course remains an important factor here. When interest rates rise, buyers can borrow less and affordability decreases. At the same time Utrecht continues to struggle with a structural housing shortage, and the city remains popular with first-time buyers, movers and people from other parts of the Netherlands who want to move to Utrecht. As long as that demand stays high and supply is limited, we don't expect overbidding to suddenly disappear.
The differences between houses will probably grow larger. A good house in a good location will still have several buyers lined up, while houses that are put on the market too high, are in a less attractive location or need a lot of work will leave more room to think things over and sometimes even to negotiate.
Overbidding in Utrecht in 2026: the interim score
Overbidding in Utrecht is therefore still very normal in 2026, but the market has changed. In January buyers overbid by an average of 10.3%, in May that rose to 14.8%, and by August the percentage had dropped back to 12.7%. At the same time supply has grown considerably and average prices per square metre are still higher than a year ago.
So the market is getting a little more breathing space, but Utrecht hasn't become cheap. The main conclusion therefore remains essentially the same as last year: don't fixate on the average overbidding percentage. You don't buy an average; you buy one specific house. And for that house, ultimately only one question really matters: what is it worth, and what amount is still a sensible purchase for you?
