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Brussels, Belgium: The One City Where House Prices Aren't Crashing
Date: 01/05/2009
Brussels real estate is good, solid, safe. The key is buying in the right areas. You see, Brussels has a unique safety cushion.
Ablaze in bonfire colors, Parc Woluwe’s trees rustle messages that Brussels is tilting into winter. Christmas markets, squares transformed into ice rinks, roasted chestnuts and steamy windows.
Lovely! No mistaking that Belgium’s capital is in Northern Europe. Its trappings include strong beers and rib-sticking food...stepped-gable houses...Gothic churches with grimacing gargoyles.
Whatever they’re grimacing at, it’s not the sound of house prices crashing.
Although residential values are stagnant in the current global climate, they’re not plummeting. Construction is slowing, but hasn’t stopped.
And while the Eurozone is now officially in recession, a few individual countries are still posting slight growth rates. Belgium is one of them. Eurostat data show its growth rates have been on the plus side--barely--for the past four quarters.
As one of my contacts puts it: “Brussels is good, solid, safe. The key is buying in the right areas.”
You see, Brussels has a unique safety cushion.
Home to more than a million people, this is the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. They employ thousands of foreign staff--as do the numerous NGOs and multinationals that are based here.
In the next few years, many more bureaucrats, lawyers, diplomats, and assorted paper-pushers will also need accommodation. The rental market is unlikely to shrink. At least not any time soon.
Brussels, Belgium: Astoundingly Low Prices for a Western European Capital
But here’s a peculiarity. Apartments in one of the city’s best areas cost less than half those in the least desirable neighborhood of Paris. In fact, throughout Brussels, properties were far less than I imagined. For any Western European capital, 95,000 euro ($132,000) seems astounding.
That buys a 537-square-foot apartment in a traditional Flemish-style residence in Schaerbeek, a neighborhood between NATO and the EU quarter. It’s a working-class district, but there’s lots of regeneration happening--and it isn’t completely off the expat rental trail.
More property details shortly. First though, a bit about this underrated capital.
Most people associate Brussels with chocolate and beer...with the gilded Grand Place and the Mannekin Pis, the statue of a small boy taking a leak. And, of course, with the EU and its monumental edifices.
On one hand, it’s sophisticated, stylish, and cosmopolitan. On the other, it’s flavored with down-to-earth Northern grit. But it’s also a city of parks and suburbs. Forested countryside lies on the doorstep.
Expats certainly don’t want for life’s good things. They enjoy theater, opera, English-language cinema, and a café society. Gourmet restaurants, ethnic restaurants. Sports centers, swimming pools, and an array of international schools.
I wouldn’t mind a pied-à-terre here. On fast Eurostar trains, you can be in Paris within 90 minutes; London or Amsterdam in just over two hours.
See my full report on Brussels in the January issue of International Living.
Steenie Harvey
Roving Europe Editor, International Living
To read more articles by Steenie Harvey, see:
How to become a travel writer and enjoy these perks
How to become a travel writer and enjoy winter sunshine
Cyprus Island: Have you heard of this winter sunshine island?
Our Secret Weapon: How to Economy-Proof Your Retirement
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