National event nets 56,000 open houses and 95,000 viewers

NIEUWEGEIN - Dutch society strives on being open. Part of the tradition is holding open houses on an industry-wide basis which individual firms can opt to join on a certain date and time. The national realty organization NVM recently held such a national event at about 56,000 listed houses, attracting 95,000 viewers. Earlier this year they attracted 130,000 viewers, a significant drop but still worth the effort, says the realty group. It is up to the owners of the listed houses whether or not they participate. One out of every three did. The real estate market in the Netherlands suffers from a general uncertainty caused by a sluggish economy and concerns over austerity measures and the budget crisis in Greece.