56 Flemish Municipalities Raise Property Taxes in 2026

More than one in five Flemish municipalities have raised property taxes in 2026, part of a nationwide wave that saw 88 Belgian municipalities increase their rates — a dramatic leap from just six in 2025. The increases, averaging nearly 15%, are driven by rising costs for pensions, police, fire services, and social services, according to the Ayming Property Tax Report 2026.

How Property Tax Works in Belgium

Property tax in Belgium (onroerende voorheffing) is calculated based on the cadastral income (KI) — an estimate of a property’s net rental value, largely set in 1975 and indexed annually since the 1990s. The Flemish Region applies a base rate of 3.97% of the KI, while provinces and municipalities add opcentiemen (centimes additionnels), a multiplier on top of the base rate. At 1,000 opcentiemen, for every euro of base property tax, a resident pays ten euros extra to the municipality.

As tax expert Michiel Maus explained in Het Laatste Nieuws, each municipality sets its own rate, and that autonomy is now making itself felt in the wake of the October 2024 local elections.

The Scale of the Increases

Across Belgium, the average property tax burden rose from 50.58% to 51.29% of cadastral income. In Flanders specifically, the average rate reached 916.7 opcentiemen in 2026, up from 895.42 in 2025 — a roughly 2.30% increase. The VRT NWS interactive map shows that 56 of the 284 Flemish municipalities (19.7%) raised their base rates.

Some of the steepest increases include:

• Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (Vlaams-Brabant): +53.9% (from 566.8 to 872.0 opcentiemen)
• Tremelo (Vlaams-Brabant): +40.9% (from 567.0 to 799.0)
• Eeklo (Oost-Vlaanderen): +34.4% (from 818.6 to 1,100.0)
• Horebeke (Oost-Vlaanderen): +29.8% (from 755.0 to 980.0)
• Grimbergen (Vlaams-Brabant): +29.0% (from 620.0 to 800.0)

At the extremes, the West Flemish municipality of Alveringem has the highest rate at 1,417 opcentiemen, while Sint-Martens-Latem (Oost-Vlaanderen) and Zaventem (Vlaams-Brabant) share the lowest at 472, according to data compiled by Pandwijzer.

Why the Increase?

“Rising costs for pensions, police, fire services and social services put municipal finances under pressure everywhere,” said Dorian Clément, Finance & Tax Manager at Ayming Belgium, in comments reported by VRT NWS. “Property tax is the most direct lever municipalities have for that, and it is now being used.”

The increases follow the October 2024 local elections, with newly elected councils adopting multi-year budgets. At least 17 Flemish municipalities are implementing a deliberate tax shift — lowering the Additional Personal Income Tax (APB) while raising property taxes, which provide a more stable revenue stream less dependent on federal transfers.

Flemish Minister of the Interior Hilde Crevits (CD&V) downplayed the scale of the increases in a statement published in February: “Despite the challenging budgetary context, we see that a small minority of municipalities are raising their tax rates next year. Thanks in part to sustainable financing from Flanders, local authorities are able to maintain their investments without passing them on to citizens.”

Business Impact and Regional Competition

Beyond the base rate increases, 24 Flemish municipalities kept their base rate unchanged but introduced higher targeted rates for specific groups — mostly businesses with offices and industrial properties. The Province of Antwerp also raised its provincial opcentiemen by 10%, from 145.33 to 160, affecting all municipalities in the province.

Despite these increases, Flanders remains the most fiscally competitive region in Belgium with an average tax burden of 47.22%, compared to Wallonia at 55.22% and Brussels at 58.48%. However, the gap is narrowing.

Brussels faces a more acute challenge. In 14 of its 19 municipalities, the total tax burden exceeds 70%. Office vacancy in the capital stands at 8.7% and has been rising since 2018. “Companies are increasingly moving to the Flemish periphery,” Clément noted, as reported by HLN.

What’s Next

The 2026 tax increases mark a significant departure from recent years of fiscal restraint. With municipal budgets under continued pressure from rising pension and social service costs, the question is whether this trend will accelerate in 2027. For homeowners and investors in the 56 affected municipalities, the message is clear: property tax bills are rising, and location decisions now carry long-term fiscal consequences.

As Clément warned: “Anyone who chooses a location to invest today without factoring in the fiscal pressure will pay the price tomorrow.”