Too few candidates for owner-occupied homes in former ING headquarters in Zuidoost | Amsterdam
NewsThe sale of 160 homes in the Zandkasteel, the former head office of ING at the Amsterdamse Poort, has been called off: there are too few buyers. The houses are for rent.
The brokers who were offices in the sale involved have reported this to major buyers. ‘Despite the large number of enthusiastic interested parties, the number of sales falls far short of the possible target. The homes are therefore announced for rent, in accordance with first thought. We understand that this is a great disappointment for buyers and interested parties.’
According to the brokerage firms, affordability for prospective buyers has come under pressure in recent times due to uncertainties in the buyer’s market. ‘The brief rise in mortgage rates has put affordability at risk. In addition, developments in the owner-occupied housing market are creating a great deal of uncertainty and a wait-and-see attitude. We don’t see this improving the starting time. Because the homes will be ready in April 2023, we will be offering them for rent in the short term.’
Self-occupancy obligation
You can read that for owner-occupied homes on the project’s website a self-occupancy obligation applies for four years: whoever buys a house will therefore live there for at least four years. This new rule should ensure that fewer homes are bought by investors and that high prices are rented out, the divided ‘buy-to-let’ principle.
Over the past ten years, investment funds, comparable to the American ones, bought 5.7 billion euros worth of houses in Amsterdam. Starters often fish behind the net. From the description of the project presented in the Zandkasteel, homes are offered from 275,000 euros (36 square meters) to 518,000 euros (for 88 square meters).
First Monument Southeast
The Sandcastle is since 2017 a municipal monumentthe first in Southeast, and for some time as an ING hospital. The official name is De Amsterdamse Poort, but the building got its nickname because of the sandy color and the organic shapes of the facades.
It sure was with 65,000 square meters of office space one of the largest commercial properties in the city. Due to the location of the complex – in the Amsterdamse Poort shopping center, close to Bijlmer Arena station – it was expected that the more expensive apartments would be.
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