[pcrh]

Indeed. It's quite hard to make a profit from selling your own home in Belgium unless you have lived there for a long time. However, it appears that these extra costs are what prevents the Belgian housing market from inflating the way it does in the UK or US, eventually resulting in lower costs for both renters and buyers. A three bedroom house in a desirable suburb of Brussels costs less than a 50 sq m one-bedroom flat in an undesirable area of London.

[trgn]

Yup transaction costs are outrageous in Belgium. I blame it on the continued 19th century practice of upper crust families parking their more dimwitted members in civil law notary positions, guaranteeing them a respectable income without giving them the ability to cause too much harm. Seats for those offices are still getting hawked around today (expensive to claim one!).

All kidding aside, yes, the high transaction costs are a real break on speculation in the housing market there.