Buying a house in the Rivierenbuurt (Amsterdam): how to reach the owners

The Rivierenbuurt is a neighbourhood where little comes up for sale and much of it changes hands without ever reaching Funda. If you want to live here, a personal letter to the owners in a few chosen streets gives you a better chance than waiting for a listing.

In short

The Rivierenbuurt has 13,632 addresses in the BAG register.
An existing home in the municipality of Amsterdam sold in 2025 for €631,000 on average, +2.1% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).

Written by Jiri, estate agent in Maastricht and founder of DoorLetter.

Updated on 5 October 2026.

The Rivierenbuurt is the neighbourhood where I see many people return who lived there as children. Residents stay a long time, and when a flat comes free there is often already a child, a neighbour or an acquaintance who wants it. On Funda you mainly see the smaller flats; the spacious corner home on the Amstelkade rarely comes up publicly.

The neighbourhood was built in the 1920s and 1930s as part of Berlage's Plan Zuid: wide avenues, closed building blocks, Amsterdamse School next to plainer brick. Almost everything is flats in blocks of three or four floors with a balcony; there are hardly any whole houses. Part of it is still rented. The most sought after are the flats on the water and the top floors with a roof terrace.

If I were looking here, I would pick one side of the Amstelkade or a stretch of the Rijnstraat and write to the residents there. Short and honest: who I am, why the Rivierenbuurt, and that I am going to live in the house myself. Many owners here are older and have been thinking about moving for years; the letter that is in the drawer by then is the letter that works.

Rivierenbuurt in figures

Public figures about the neighbourhood, refreshed daily. They say something about who lives here and what it costs; whether anything will come up for sale, they do not say. That is what the letter is for.

Homes

Addresses: 13,632; BAG via PDOK

Value and prices

Average sale price, municipality of Amsterdam: €631,000+2.1% on 2024; CBS StatLine, existing homes 2025

Sources: the Dutch address and building register (BAG) via PDOK, CBS neighbourhood statistics (Wijken en Buurten), CBS StatLine (existing owner-occupied homes, average sale price per municipality). No source publishes overbidding figures per neighbourhood, so they are not here.

The average sale price in Amsterdam per year since 1995

Streets people ask about

These are the streets most often named by people searching in the Rivierenbuurt. Choose one or two where you would really want to live, not the whole list.

Churchill-laan · Amstelkade · Maasstraat · Rijnstraat · Scheldestraat · Waalstraat

Postcode area 1077 and 1078 and 1079.

Other neighbourhoods in Amsterdam

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in de Rivierenbuurt.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in the Rivierenbuurt?

Pick a few streets or a quay where you would really want to live and write the residents one personal letter: who you are, why the Rivierenbuurt, and that you are not an investor. Through DoorLetter the first letter is free, printed and delivered by PostNL; the owner can reply anonymously with the code in the letter.

Does much come up for sale in the Rivierenbuurt?

Smaller flats come up regularly. The spacious homes, corner flats on the water and double upstairs flats, rarely come free and often go outside Funda, from parent to child or within the VvE. Those who want such a home are better off writing themselves than waiting.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The Amstelkade and the other quays on the water, the Churchill-laan and the streets around the Victorieplein. But sought after also means a lot of competition; a quiet street that you find beautiful and that is not in every top ten often gives you a better chance.

Many homes here are rented. Is a letter worth it then?

A sizeable part of the Rivierenbuurt is rented, from housing associations and from private landlords, and then the tenant reads your letter. So look at blocks with many owner-occupiers, usually recognisable by the well-kept entrances and the VvE signs, and state clearly in the letter that it is meant for whoever owns the house.

Write to the owners in the Rivierenbuurt.

Pick a street, write in your own words why you want to live in the Rivierenbuurt, and send your letter. The first letter is free, printed and delivered by PostNL; the owner can reply anonymously with the code in the letter.

Write your first letter