Trevi Trust Monitor (Trevi Index)

The Trevi Trust Monitor (TTM) is a confidence barometer based on the state and evolution of the Belgian real estate market and the data from our Trevi Partner agency network. Specifically, the TTM is calculated based on four components:

1. Evolution of demands from owner-occupiers and investors.
2. Demand for different types of properties.
3. An estimation of the price evolution for houses (with gardens), apartments, and building plots.
4. An estimation of the transaction volume evolution by property type.

1. Observing the residential real estate market

Building databases that record transaction prices in the Belgian residential real estate market is not easy. Among the numerous available sources, few simultaneously:

• Rely on a sufficiently representative sample
• Offer efficient systems for collecting information
• Provide comprehensive details about the characteristics of the properties exchanged
• Supply data that allows an understanding of recent market realities

2. Sources available for creating a barometer

To identify statistical sources that provide insight into the residential real estate market, it is helpful to divide the process of a property’s mutation into four phases: putting the property up for sale, signing the sales agreement, signing the notarial deed, and finally registering the mutation in the land registry administration (Graph 1).

3. The Trevi Trust Monitor

Through its original information collection system concerning prices and property characteristics, Trevi addresses the first two stages of the selling process and the prospects of the Belgian real estate market for the following quarters.
Studies based on notarial deeds come into play at the third stage of the mutation process: at the time of signing the notarial deed. By this point, three to four months have already passed for a property that has been put up for sale and effectively transacted, meaning much of the information has lost its freshness.
Nearly a year after a property enters the selling process, the registration of the mutation in the land registry administration concludes the transfer process.
Among the various available sources, the Trevi Trust Monitor relies on data that allows analysis of recent developments in the Belgian real estate market. The index presented for quarter t refers to the markets observed during the previous quarter (t-1) based on a large sample and projected onto the coming quarters.