Belgium housing market 2026: prices, costs, FSBO

The newest readings come from Fednot's Vastgoedbarometer for the first quarter of 2026 and from Statbel's quarterly house-price data. Fednot, which works from notarial deeds, reports a national average house price of EUR 359,965 (up about 2.8% versus the 2025 average) and an average apartment of EUR 288,250 (up about 2.2%). Statbel, which publishes medians by property type, put a detached house at about EUR 405,000, an attached or semi-detached house at about EUR 285,000, and an apartment at about EUR 257,000 for Q1 2026 (figures reported via IndexBox). Year on year, apartments rose 3.2% and detached houses 2.5%, while attached and semi-detached houses slipped 1.7%, so the headline is gentle, uneven growth rather than a uniform surge.

Our own read of the market in June 2026 looked at 35 live Immoweb listings across the three largest cities. The overall median asking price was EUR 425,000, with Brussels at EUR 474,000, Antwerp at EUR 444,000, and Ghent at EUR 419,000. That sits well above the national apartment median of about EUR 257,000 for one clear reason: the three biggest cities are materially more expensive than Belgium as a whole. On a per-square-meter basis, two- and three-bedroom apartments in the sample clustered roughly EUR 3,500 to 5,000 per square meter.

Worth remembering when you set an asking price: in Belgium final sale prices typically land somewhat below the original listing price, on the order of about 5%, so the asking figures you see on portals tend to run ahead of where deals actually close. Treat that as a rule of thumb rather than a precise discount, since it varies by region, property type, and how the home was priced to begin with.

Belgium is cheaper to sell in than many owners expect, because the heavy transaction taxes fall on the buyer, not on you. The buyer pays the registration duty plus notary fees. For a qualifying main residence the registration duty is 2% in Flanders and 3% in Wallonia, while Brussels keeps a 12.5% headline rate with an abatement on the first EUR 200,000. Standard, non-main-residence purchases are taxed at the higher headline rates. Either way, all of that is on the buyer's side, and combined buyer costs vary widely by region, from a few percent for a qualifying main residence to well into double digits for a standard purchase in Brussels or Wallonia.

As the seller, your single largest cost is the agent commission, customarily 3% to 3.5% of the price plus 21% VAT. On a EUR 350,000 sale that works out to roughly EUR 12,700 to 14,800 once VAT is included. Beyond that, you must legally provide a set of certificates whether or not you use an agent: an energy performance certificate (EPC), a soil and asbestos attestation, and an electrical inspection, together usually EUR 500 to 1,500.

The seller pays no transfer tax on a standard sale, and capital gains tax applies only in limited cases, such as a resale within five years. A notary is legally required to execute the deed, but the buyer engages and pays the main notary fee. So the math is simple: skip the agent and your remaining seller-side costs are modest, on the order of a few hundred to fifteen hundred euros for certificates.

Selling for sale by owner, zonder makelaar in Dutch or sans agent in French, is fully legal in Belgium, and a sizeable minority of sales go this route specifically to avoid the 3% to 3.5% plus VAT commission. As a private seller you handle pricing, photos, the listing, viewings, and negotiation yourself. Immoweb is where most Belgian buyers search, with Immovlan, Logic-Immo, and Zimmo behind it, and all accept private listings. Listing directly on Anyone.com costs nothing, with no commission, and works alongside the local portals.

The one professional you cannot skip is the notary. By law a notary must draw up and execute the deed of sale, whether or not an agent was involved. You also remain legally responsible for the same mandatory certificates an agent would otherwise arrange: the EPC, the soil and asbestos attestation, and the electrical inspection. Order these early, because a buyer will ask for them and a missing certificate can stall a closing.

The financial logic is straightforward. On a EUR 350,000 sale, going private keeps roughly EUR 12,700 to 14,800 that would otherwise go to a commission, against only a few hundred to fifteen hundred euros of certificate costs you would pay anyway. The big transaction taxes, the registration duty and the main notary fee, fall on the buyer regardless. With sales volumes up 3.4% year on year in Q1 2026, demand is firm, so pricing discipline and broad portal exposure matter more than representation itself.