The housing market in the Netherlands is slowly recovering from the crisis. Since 2013 house prices have been increasing, due in part to declining mortgage interest. In the third quarter of 2016 house prices on average increased by 7.4 percent. This however does not mean that the housing market in the Netherlands has overcome the credit crisis. Compared to the second quarter of 2008, housing prices in the Netherlands are still below the average before the crisis. And the difference is only more pronounced when comparing the situation with other European countries. Only in Spain, Italy and Ireland the housing market was hit harder by the crisis. In contrast, the housing market in neighboring countries Belgium and Luxembourg was much faster to recover.