Brussels is the most expensive region to buy property in Belgium but the price gaps between municipalities are significant.
The latest Belgian house prices (for the third quarter of this year) have been published by Belgium's statistics office Statbel. The Capital Region remains the most expensive region for purchasing both houses and flats.
The cost of a terraced or semi-detached house rose by €2,000 to €505,000, +0.4% on this time last year. This is almost double the Belgian median price, which stood at €275,000 (+4.6%).
For fully detached houses in Brussels, the median price was €1,020,250 – a 20% increase since the third quarter of 2023. This is almost three times the national median average for a detached house (€380,000) and more than three times the median in Wallonia (€310,000).
Brussels is less of an outlier when it comes to flats, for which the median cost stood was €267,000, not too much more than the Belgian average median cost of €245,000.
This down to there being far more flats in Brussels than houses. In Flanders and Wallonia, houses account for about three-quarters of the residential property market. By contrast, they make up just 35% of the housing stock in Brussels, driving up the prices in this area.
Most expensive communes
For houses, the communes with the highest median prices are located to the south and southeast of the Brussels-Charleroi canal, historically the most expensive part of the region.
Brussels' most expensive commune is Etterbeek, with a median price of €720,000. It is also the secon-most expensive commune in Belgium (the Flemish coastal town of Knokke-Heist is in first place). Etterbeek is followed by Ixelles, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Uccle and Watermael-Boitsfort.
Saint-Gilles was the most expensive municipality for flats, with the highest median price at €350,000. The municipality is among the most sought-after among flat-hunters.
For flats, the highest median price in Brussels is lower than those in Flanders (€544,000 in Knokke-Heist) and in Wallonia (€387,500 in Waterloo).
Three of the communes completing the top five are also the most expensive for houses (Ixelles, Uccle and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre), as well as Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.
Cheapest communes
All the communes with the lowest median price for a house and flat can be found to the west and northwest of the region, generally considered the cheapest part of the capital. The least expensive municipality for buying both a house and a flat is Anderlecht where the median price for a house is €350,000 and €205,000 for a flat.
However, the prices here remain considerably higher than in the cheapest Flemish and Walloon communes.
The lowest median price for a house in Flanders can be found in the West Flemish town of Menen (€190,000) while in Wallonia, it is €92,000 in Hastiere, Namur. For flats, the most affordable commune in Flanders is Roeselare (€170,000) and in Wallonia, it is Charleroi (€102,500).
The top five cheapest municipalities for houses in Brussels also include Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, the City of Brussels, Jette and Berchem-Sainte-Agathe.
When it comes to flats, Koekelberg is the second-cheapest location to buy property, followed by Jette, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Ganshoren.
