Where to find a home for sale in Amsterdam, what it costs by district in 2026 and how a purchase works in the Netherlands.
To find a home for sale in Amsterdam, almost everything goes through two channels: listing portals, led by Funda, and makelaars, the Dutch estate agents who advertise their seller clients' properties. The market moves fast: according to the Makelaarsvereniging Amsterdam (MVA), a property stays on the market for 32 days on average, and buyers paid on average 7% more than the asking price in the second quarter of 2026.
The average sale price of a home in the municipality reached €588,000 that quarter, against €506,000 on average in the Netherlands. Knowing where to look is therefore not enough: you also need to be ready to view quickly, make a realistic offer and know the steps of a Dutch purchase. This guide covers all three.
Funda (funda.nl) brings together properties for sale and for rent across the country, apartments and houses alike, and also lets you search for a makelaar who is a member of the NVM, the main federation of agents. Filters by neighbourhood, price, floor area and number of rooms let you follow a specific area. Set up alerts at the very start of your search: in a market where a property goes in a month, the most interesting listings get their viewing requests in the first few days.
The association of makelaars of Greater Amsterdam publishes its members' listings for Amsterdam and the neighbouring municipalities (Amstelveen, Diemen, Zaandam, Purmerend, Weesp) on its website, with a search profile (zoekprofiel) that emails you new properties. The site also separates new-build homes (nieuwbouw) from existing ones.
New-build homes are often sold off plan by the developer or by a makelaar in charge of the development. The timeline, the contract and the costs differ from buying an existing home: the Dutch government points out that buying a new-build home follows a slightly different process. Read the reservation terms carefully before committing.
Some sellers do without an agent and advertise their property themselves. That is possible, but the negotiation, the checking of documents and the drafting of the contract then rest more on you. In every case, the sale is completed before a Dutch notary.
The makelaar who posts the listing works for the seller: their job is to get the best price for their client. Many buyers therefore hire their own agent, the aankoopmakelaar, who spots properties, assesses the price, advises on the offer and negotiates. In Amsterdam, the MVA lists among its members specialists in foreign buyers (expat brokers) and in erfpacht, the ground lease on the land that applies to part of the city's housing and weighs on the real cost of a property. Always ask whether the land is freehold or erfpacht, and on what terms.
The notaris handles the payment and has you sign the transfer deed (leveringsakte), which officially makes you the owner. You also pay the transfer tax to them.
The overdrachtsbelasting is 2% of the property's value if you buy it to live in long term, and 8% if you do not live in it yourself, for example a home bought to let or a second home (10.4% for commercial premises, a garage or building land). A buyer aged 18 to 34 who buys their home is exempt if the property does not exceed €555,000 in 2026. Above that amount, they pay 2%.
Buying from France without speaking Dutch makes every step slower: following listings, getting viewings, understanding a koopcontract. A Remoters home finder based in Amsterdam can search for you, view properties, check the documents and coordinate with the makelaar and the notary. The first conversation and the quote are free.
In the Netherlands, prices of existing homes were 3.3% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, according to the CBS. This rise has been slowing almost without interruption since the end of 2024, and prices fell slightly, by 0.1%, between July and August. They remain 17.8% above the previous peak of July 2022.
Amsterdam stands out: in the second quarter of 2026, prices there were only 0.1% higher than a year earlier, against 4.2% on average nationally. The MVA describes stable prices, more properties for sale and more sales. More than 3,290 homes were for sale in the municipality, including a number of small homes that used to be rented out and are now on the market, often cheaper than average.
The MVA measures market tightness by the number of properties for sale per active buyer. A balanced market sits around 5. Amsterdam is at 3.3, West and Weesp at 2.7, Centrum at 4.8. In practice, a property viewed on a Wednesday can be sold the following week. Have your financing validated before the viewings and decide your maximum price in advance.
Short answers to the questions our readers ask, written to stand on their own.
Sources cited in this article
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