News from Amsterdam


To the front page

11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

 

 

 

 

Housing crisis in Indische Buurt

24 December 2008 – Over one in hundred houses in the poor but promising Indische Buurt neighbourhood have been offered for sale, according to research by website Zeeburg.nu. Meanwhile, the housing crisis also affects TV producers and the market for house boats.

Over the past two months, 120 houses in the Indische Buurt have been offered for sale, on a total of 11,308. “By Amsterdam standards, this is a lot”, comments Zeeburg.nu’s Saskia Ploeg, “for the housing market has been very tight for years”.

The average price is 225,000 euro for a surface of 63 square metres. The street with the highest number of houses for sale (34) is the Javastraat.

According to Zeeburg.nu, the effects of the credit crunch are felt first at the lower end of the housing market. In addition, the Indische Buurt is an urban renewal area, which also contributes to the number of houses for sale.

Meanwhile, other sectors of the housing market are affected as well. The New York Times reports that prices for houseboats have remained fairly stable due to the limited number of moorings, but quotes a house agent who says he has received fewer inquiries from buyers in the past months. The cost of a modest house boat with mooring would start at 250,000 euros.

Last weekend, de Volkskrant reported on a new television series Verborgen Gebreken (‘hidden defects’) set in the ‘hip scene of house agents’ in Amsterdam Zuid. The series, to be shown by Net 5 from March 2009, is set against the background of a very tight housing market.

Net 5 acknowledged the problem: “We have seen the first two episodes and indeed, it’s about an overheated scene in which house agents have to compete with each other. But the series is mainly about the main characters and their experiences. After all, it is fiction”.

Not all episodes have been shot yet, so there it is still possible to make some changes. “The producers of the series, NL Film & TV, are constantly in touch with real house agents in Amsterdam, so different story lines are conceivable”.

Image: Javastraat

 

Want to receive News from Amsterdam? Click here

This is the old website. Please find new content here