While rental charges are increasing with soaring energy prices, rents are also suffering the first setbacks of inflation, according to the rental barometer of the Federation of French-speaking real estate agents in Belgium (Federia ). With an average rental price of 1,104 euros, all types of housing combined, Brussels remains the most expensive Region.
The rents offered increased in the first half of 2022 by 2% in the capital, 3.7% in Flanders and 4% in the south of the country, Federia point, which was based on nearly 120,000 leases. in the residential segment, concluded since 2018 in Brussels and Wallonia, including 14,258 in the spring of 2022 alone. For the north of the country, Federia has established its barometer in collaboration with the Flemish Confederation of Real Estate Trades (CIB Vlaanderen) .
Up to €1,080
In Brussels, apartments – which include more than nine out of ten rental units (92%) – experienced, on average and for all municipalities, a rent increase of 2.5% over half a year to reach a price average of 1,069 euros, notes Federia. The increase in rents has accelerated compared to previous years and, in view of inflation, should continue. “We are rather counting on 1,080 euros by the end of the year, an increase of 3.5% to 4% over the whole year”, warns the director general of the federation, Charlotte De Thaye. “Brussels, much more than Flanders and Wallonia, follows a certain seasonality in rental contracts: there are generally many more leases there in the fall than in the spring, with prices fluctuating in the same direction.”
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre is the most expensive municipality to rent an apartment and with Ixelles, for the first time in the Region, crossed the threshold of 1,300 euros in average rent for this type of property, at 1,405 euros and 1,321 euros respectively. to be disbursed monthly in the first half of this year. Uccle closes this top 3 with 1,277 euros in rent. The increases within the 19 municipalities of the capital are disparate and we note that rents have remained relatively stable in Watermael-Boitsfort (1,074 euros in 2022 against 1,012 euros in 2019), while they have soared in Auderghem (1,259 euros against 997 euros) or Schaerbeek (1,030 euros against 883 euros). With a rent increase of around 50 euros in three years, Anderlecht (831 euros in 2022) and Molenbeek (818 euros) are the municipalities where renting an apartment is the most affordable.
The average rental price for terraced houses in Brussels has also increased, from 1,697 euros in 2019 to 1,799 euros three years later. Same observation on the side of the studios, which were rented for some 630 euros in 2019 against 697 euros in 2022.
South of the country
But it is in Wallonia that rental prices have increased the most. In the first half of the year, the average price, all goods combined, was estimated at 741 euros, an increase of 4%, compared to 3.7% in Flanders, which shows an average price of 801 euros. Small properties are experiencing the strongest increases there (4% for apartments to 7.5% for studios), while four-sided houses and villas do not yet seem to be affected by the rise in rents (-0.1 % and +0.5%), calculates L’Echo for its part.
Walloon Brabant, close to the capital, is particularly popular with Brussels residents looking for greenery and this is reflected in rents, at 982 euros (+2.6%) on average for all types of property combined. Although rental prices are more moderate there, it is the province of Liège which nevertheless recorded the strongest growth in the first half (+6.8%), with rents jumping to 714 euros. Among the five Walloon provinces, only Hainaut maintains prices below the 700 euro mark. In addition, single-family homes are even experiencing a decline of almost 8%, the only decline observed in the south of the country.