Belgians Owning 10+ Properties Jump Nearly 30%

The number of Belgians who own ten or more properties has surged by nearly 30% over four years, according to figures obtained by the Flemish socialist party Vooruit, spotlighting a sharpening concentration of real estate wealth in a country where property is treated as a near-unshakeable investment. Just 2,803 Belgians owned exactly ten houses in 2026, while 7,962 owned more than ten, according to data from the Federal Public Service Finance released in response to a parliamentary question and reported by RTBF.

Against those roughly 10,765 large owners stand 4,228,967 Belgians who own a single home.

A Widening Gap in Growth Rates

The headline figures conceal an even starker divergence in how different tiers of ownership have grown since 2022. The number of Belgians owning one property rose 3% over the four-year period, those owning two rose 6%, and those owning three rose 11%. By contrast, ownership of exactly ten houses climbed 29.6%, and large landowners holding more than ten properties increased 23%, HLN reported. Legal entities owning more than ten houses grew by roughly 23.6%.

Put another way, the number of Belgians holding ten homes grew nearly ten times faster than the number owning a single home—a statistic Vooruit has seized on to argue that Belgium’s wealthiest are pulling away from the rest of the population.

Vooruit: ‘The Richest Keep Getting Richer’

The data was requested by Niels Tas, a Vooruit member of parliament from Dendermonde, and supplied by Finance and Pensions Minister Jan Jambon of the Flemish nationalist N-VA. Vooruit’s federal group leader, Oskar Seuntjens, framed the numbers as proof of entrenched inequality.

“Inequality in our country is still far too great—these figures demonstrate it once again,” Seuntjens said, as reported by 7sur7. “We already raised registration duties on a second home to 12%, but the conclusion is clear: the richest people in this country keep getting richer. It is really time to tackle that inequality and make everyone contribute fairly.”

Belgium already levies registration duties of 12% in Flanders and 12.5% in Wallonia and Brussels on a second property, measures that have so far failed to slow the accumulation of large portfolios, according to La Libre.

A Long-Building Trend

The concentration at the top is the latest chapter in a longer trend. In 2020, just over 800,000 Belgians owned more than one property. By January 2025, Belgium counted 5,062,913 homeowners—more than 30,000 more than the year before—and 905,590 people owned two or more properties, up from 889,962 in 2024, according to VRT NWS. More than 6,400 Belgians owned between 20 and 50 properties, and 917 owned more than 50.

Analysts attribute the appetite for property to a deeply held belief that real estate is a safe store of value. “Belgians continue to see property as a very safe investment,” said Alissa Lefebre, a real estate economist at ING, in February. “House prices in Belgium have kept rising steadily in recent years, and we have seen fewer price corrections than our neighbouring countries. About 70% of Belgians assume prices will never fall.”

Bart Van Opstal of Belgium’s notaries’ federation, Fednot, described property as a “safe haven” amid international instability, noting that buyers are no longer waiting for a price drop that never comes.

Inequality in the Spotlight

The release lands during tense federal budget negotiations under Prime Minister Bart De Wever, with a national day of action against proposed budget measures held on 9–10 October. The inequality framing feeds directly into debates over wealth and property taxation.

It also echoes findings published by the National Bank of Belgium in late September, which showed the richest 10% of households own 54.4% of total net wealth, with a wealth Gini coefficient of 68.8%—still below the eurozone average of 73.1%. Joining the richest 10% requires a net worth of at least €1.16 million, while average household net worth stood at €610,000 in the first quarter of 2026, HLN reported. The Vooruit figures were also distributed via the Belga news agency and carried by outlets including MSN/Belga.

What to Watch

The immediate question is political: whether the figures give momentum to proposals targeting large property owners as De Wever’s government tries to close its budget gap. Vooruit has already signalled it views the data as ammunition for higher contributions from the wealthiest. For now, the numbers tell a simple story—in a country of more than four million single-home owners, a small and fast-growing group sits atop an increasingly concentrated market.