No less than 21,700 Brussels inhabitants moved to Flanders in 2018, which is a record and 2.5 times more than the number of people moving house in the opposite direction (8.611), Het Belang van Limburg reported on Wednesday, basing its story on figures analysed by the Federal Public Service for Home Affairs.
Apart from Brussels inhabitants, 8,848 Walloons went to live in the north of the country in 2018. Flanders has therefore received a total of 30,548 people, that is nearly twice as many as it had lost to another region (16,153). Ten years ago, the difference between departures and arrivals was only 6,617.
There were several factors that could explain the phenomenon, according to the association of real estate professions CIB Vlaanderen. The inhabitants of upmarket communes like Woluwe, Watermael-Boitsfort and Auderghem thus found in the Brussels periphery (Flemish region) an area that was beneficial financially with effective links to the capital.
Tax competition between regions could equally have played a role. But it was highly unlikely that the decline since June 1 2018 in family homes registered to a figure of 7% in Flanders should have already had an impact, according to CIB Vlaanderen.
The Brussels Times
