Rental real estate has suffered from the health crisis and the lack of movement. But today, inflation is catching up with rent prices, according to figures from the Federation of French-speaking real estate agents (Federia) taken up on Saturday by L’Echo.
This slowdown was particularly marked in the Brussels Region. While rents there have evolved by an average of 6.25% between 2018 and 2019, i.e. before the pandemic, their growth was only 0.95% in 2020 and 1.2% in 2021. “During the Covid-19 crisis, a lot of people wanted to get out of Brussels, with the wish to find more space, greenery, in particular thanks to the possibilities of teleworking“, explains the president of Federia, Caroline Lejeune.
In Flanders and Walloniarental prices rose almost twice as fast as in Brussels last year, i.e. 2.5% and 2.11% respectively, but still in a manner “slow down” compared to the years preceding the health crisis (+3.7% in Flanders between 2018 and 2019, for example). But despite this slowdown observed in the capital, the latter remains by far the most expensive Region. The average rental price there is 1,181 euros, compared to 797 euros in Flanders and 751 euros in Wallonia.
These price trends show that the average rental price for current leases is currently increasing faster than that for new leases due to indexation linked to high inflation. In fact, indexed rents in February will see their amount increase by no less than 7% compared to last year.