WOZ Value: What It Is and When You Need It

The WOZ value (short for Wet Waardering Onroerende Zaken, the Valuation of Immovable Property Act) is your municipality's estimated market value of your home as of 1 January of the previous year, reassessed every year. It sets the basis for your property taxes and gives you a public reference point to understand a home's value before you bid.

Key takeaways

• WOZ value is the municipality's estimated market value as of 1 January of the previous year, and it is valid for one year (Rijksoverheid).
• It is based on comparable sold homes and features such as surface area, location, maintenance condition and construction year (Waarderingskamer).
• Municipalities use it for OZB and sewerage charges, water boards for the watersysteemheffing, and the Belastingdienst for the eigenwoningforfait.
• WOZ values of homes are public: you can look any home up via the WOZ-waardeloket (Kadaster).
• Disagree with the figure? You can object with your gemeente within six weeks of the date on your WOZ decision.

What is the WOZ value?

According to the Waarderingskamer, the national body that supervises how municipalities set WOZ values, WOZ stands for Wet Waardering Onroerende Zaken, the Valuation of Immovable Property Act. The WOZ value is your municipality's estimated market value of your home on the reference date of 1 January of the previous year. Municipalities base it on comparable sold homes and on characteristics such as surface area, location, maintenance condition and construction year. Because the reference date always sits a year back, the WOZ value lags behind what the market is actually doing today. The Rijksoverheid confirms that municipalities reassess the WOZ value every year, so the figure on your WOZ decision is valid for one year only. That yearly reset matters, because it feeds straight into what determines a home's value and, in turn, several of your tax bills.

How do I check my WOZ value?

The Kadaster runs the public WOZ-waardeloket, where you can look up the WOZ value of almost any home in the Netherlands and compare it with similar properties. Only the WOZ values of homes are public, so commercial buildings are not shown there. Your own value also arrives once a year on your WOZ decision (WOZ-beschikking) from the gemeente, usually early in the year alongside your municipal tax assessment. Comparing your figure with nearby homes is the quickest way to spot whether your value looks out of step, and a figure that runs high can quietly raise your tax bills, which is why the advantages and disadvantages of a low WOZ value are worth understanding before you accept the number. If a home is on your shortlist, its public WOZ value is a useful first anchor, though it is never the full story of what the place is worth today.

How do you check a house's value in the Netherlands?

CBS reported that existing owner-occupied home prices were on average 4.1% higher in June 2026 than a year earlier, a reminder that market value moves faster than any WOZ figure can follow. The WOZ value tells you what the municipality estimated as of last 1 January; the market value tells you what a home is worth right now. For a mortgage, lenders generally require a validated valuation report, and the NVM explains that a second, independent appraiser checks (validates) the report before it is finalized. You can also build your own picture: recent comparable sales, a CMA-style desktop valuation, and the home's own features together get you close to a number you can defend. Walter Living calculates a home's value within 30 seconds based on current market prices and comparable homes in the neighbourhood, for sale or not, so you can look beyond average selling prices and see what this home is really doing. That is the difference between a WOZ figure and the property's true value.

"The asking price tells you what the seller hopes for. The home's value tells you what the market is doing. Your negotiating room sits in between."

Steven van Wel, CEO Walter Living

Want to see it for your own shortlist? Create a free Walter account and generate a report for any address to view its WOZ value, comparable homes and a market value in seconds.

How much does a valuation report cost in the Netherlands?

Honestly, there is no single national tariff, so the honest answer is that it depends on the appraiser, the region and the type of report. What is fixed is the requirement: the NVM explains that for a mortgage you generally need a validated valuation report, where a second, independent appraiser validates the first appraiser's work before the report is final. That validation step is one reason a full taxatierapport costs more than a quick automated estimate. A desktop or model-based valuation is cheaper and faster, but not every lender accepts it in every situation. Before you pay for anything, it helps to know exactly why you need an appraisal report and which type your lender will actually accept, because paying twice for the wrong report is the expensive mistake here.

When do you need the WOZ value, and what does it affect?

The Belastingdienst uses the WOZ value to calculate the eigenwoningforfait, a percentage of your WOZ value that you add to your taxable income, so the figure reaches well beyond your municipal bill. You mainly need the WOZ value for tax, and in some cases a lender will accept it as a value reference for a mortgage instead of a full valuation report, though that is the exception rather than the rule. Because so many levies hang off one number, a WOZ value that runs too high costs you across several bills at once.

The WOZ value is used for:

• OZB (property tax) and municipal levies such as sewerage charges (Waarderingskamer)
• Watersysteemheffing gebouwd, the water board levy on buildings
• Eigenwoningforfait in your income tax (Belastingdienst)
• Gift and inheritance tax on a home
• As a possible value reference for a mortgage, in limited cases

Buyers often anchor an opening offer partly on the WOZ value, which is one of the facts, myths and rules around bidding worth knowing, and a higher WOZ value can even lower your mortgage interest rate, because a lower loan-to-value reduces the lender's risk. Keep the one-off buying costs in view too, since they land in the same period.

How do you object to your WOZ value?

The Waarderingskamer states that if you disagree with your WOZ value, you can file an objection with your gemeente within six weeks of the date on your WOZ decision. Municipalities do not always have a complete picture of every home, and because a higher WOZ value raises several tax bills at once, a mistake in surface area, condition or the comparable homes used is worth challenging. You can object by letter or online, and it is free. Start by checking the taxatieverslag, the breakdown the municipality used, against the actual features of the home. Vereniging Eigen Huis offers a WOZ-check that helps you judge whether the figure is reasonable before you file. If you want a sense of what usually works, the most frequently asked questions when objecting to a WOZ value cover the common grounds and pitfalls, so you go in prepared rather than hopeful.

The WOZ value is one anchor and the asking price is another, and neither one on its own tells you what a home is worth today. The right price is simply the price that is logical within the same value framework, once you have the WOZ value, the comparables and the current market side by side. Walter doesn't gamble. Walter explains. Generate a free Walter report for your target home and you'll see its WOZ value, comparable homes' WOZ values and a market value based on current prices, so you can decide for yourself what a logical bid looks like. You stay in charge; we just make the numbers make sense. Ready to make an offer on a popular home? Start with the value, not the asking price.

Veelgestelde vragen

What does WOZ stand for?

WOZ stands for Wet Waardering Onroerende Zaken, the Valuation of Immovable Property Act. It is your municipality's estimated market value of your home as of 1 January of the previous year, reassessed every year and valid for one year. Municipalities base it on comparable sold homes and features such as surface area, location and construction year (Waarderingskamer, Rijksoverheid).

Is the WOZ value the same as the market value?

Not quite. The WOZ value reflects what your home was worth as of last 1 January, while the market value is what it is worth right now. CBS reported that existing homes were on average 4.1% more expensive in June 2026 than a year earlier, so a lagging WOZ figure often sits below today's market value.

How do I check my WOZ value?

You can look up the WOZ value of almost any home via the public WOZ-waardeloket that the Kadaster points to, and your own value arrives yearly on your WOZ decision from the gemeente. Only the WOZ values of homes are public, which lets you compare your figure with similar properties nearby.

What is the WOZ value used for?

Municipalities use it for OZB and sewerage charges, water boards for the watersysteemheffing, and the Belastingdienst for the eigenwoningforfait, gift tax and inheritance tax on a home. As a rule, a higher WOZ value means higher tax bills, which is why an accurate figure is worth checking every year.