De Linie, Groningen

Living in De Linie

De Linie is densely built and genuinely urban, and the stock is a genuine mix of apartments and family houses (36% houses).

At 8,612 residents per km² the buurt is busy without being packed.

Groningen is a student city first: a substantial share of residents are enrolled somewhere, rental demand is constant, and buyers compete for a limited stock of family homes. For older properties in the wider region, ask about earthquake and subsidence history linked to the gas field.

The housing market in De Linie

At €411,000 average WOZ value, De Linie ranks 28 out of 100 Groningen neighborhoods on price — 30% above the city median. That premium is the location speaking. For scale: Groningen's cheapest buurt averages €200,000 and its most expensive €813,000, so De Linie sits in the middle band of the city.

The direction of the market: between 2015 and 2025 the average WOZ value here rose from €231,000 to €435,000, up 88% — slower than the city as a whole (+112%). WOZ values lag the market by about a year, but the trend itself is reliable.

With 69% of homes owner-occupied, this is a settled buyers' neighborhood — homes change hands regularly, and you can usually find recent comparable sales on the same street to anchor your bid. Settled also means slower: owners here tend to stay, so the best houses may only list once a decade.

Who lives here

Demographically, De Linie is shaped by people in their late twenties to early forties (34% of its 930 residents), followed by 45-to-65 year olds at 26%. Households split into 38% singles and 34% families with children — a real mix rather than one lifestyle. The average household counts 2.2 people.

As for who your neighbors would be: 33% of households sit in the country's top income bracket — which helps explain both the café density and the bidding behavior.

Daily errands, coffee and dinner

Day to day: the nearest large supermarket is about 10 minutes' walk; dining out means a short trip: only 6 cafés or restaurants sit within a kilometer.

The practical checklist most buyers forget to make: pharmacy 17 min walk · GP 7 min · hospital 2.4 km · library 2.4 km · 3 cinemas within 5 km. None of these will decide a purchase on their own, but a GP taking new patients nearby is the kind of thing you only miss after moving.

Families and schools

For families: the nearest primary school is 14 minutes on foot; daycare is 0.6 km away — check waiting lists early, they are long everywhere in the Netherlands; secondary school is a 9-minute bike ride, which Dutch teenagers do in all weather.

Getting around

Getting around: the train station is 4 minutes on foot — commuting without a car is the natural choice; a highway on-ramp 1.5 km away makes car trips easy — check whether through-traffic noise reaches the street you're considering; car ownership is moderate (0.8 per household).

Energy and running costs

With 95% of homes built after 2000, insulation standards here are decent by default — but newer also means VvE service costs for apartments and less room to add value through renovation. Different math, not automatically better.

Before you bid in De Linie

Before you bid in De Linie: in a premium buurt the risk isn't buying a bad home, it's overpaying for a good one — anchor your bid on recent sales of comparable homes, not on the asking price.

None of these averages can tell you whether the specific house you found is fairly priced — that depends on its size, energy label, state of maintenance and the recent sales around it. That is exactly what a free HomeReview report checks, in about 10 seconds, for any Dutch address.

Frequently asked questions

Similar neighborhoods in Groningen

Closest in price — worth a look if De Linie is out of reach or you want alternatives.