'March dip' in number of deeds temporary: significant increase in April

April more than offsets the dip in the number of deeds issued in March: compared to a year ago, the number of deeds in April increased by 26 percent. The number of mortgage deeds and transfer deeds, in particular, shot up, by 37 and 34 percent, respectively.

March, with a 5 percent decrease compared to the same month last year, appears to be an exception so far. In all other months this year, the number of deeds actually increased. This is evident from the April deeds fact sheet (pdf) . In total, notaries executed nearly 574,000 deeds in the first four months of 2024, compared to 533,000 in the same period last year. This represents an 8 percent increase.

Increase in all types of deeds
The increase in April is visible across all types of deeds. In addition to mortgage deeds and transfer deeds, the number of living wills (27 percent), deeds of incorporation for a private limited company (22 percent), and wills (21 percent) also rose significantly. In absolute numbers, a will was executed most often in April: 32,857 times, followed by mortgage deeds (26,699 times) and transfer deeds (25,334 times).