Overbidding stories travel much further than the averages behind them, which makes it hard to tell whether a bid is competitive or reckless. National figures and street-level ones diverge sharply, so the same percentage over asking can mean very different things in Amsterdam and in a smaller town.
Still a lot, though it's easing off the boil. NVM's Q1 2026 figures show 67% of homes sold above asking price, with the average winning bid about 3.7% over — down from 5.2% in the last quarter of 2025. Other trackers put it a bit higher: Huispedia has overbidding at roughly 71% of sales, averaging around 4.7% over ask. It's very location-dependent — in Amsterdam, something like three-quarters of apartments are still selling above asking, while smaller cities and towns see noticeably less competition. So the honest read: overbidding is still the norm rather than the exception nationally, but the double-digit-percentage bidding wars of the hottest years have cooled somewhat. Worth checking recent sold prices for your specific street and property type via Funda or a local agent rather than leaning on national averages, since they can mask big local swings.