Buying a house in Ginneken (Breda): how to reach the owners
Ginneken 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
- Ginneken has 3,028 addresses in the BAG register.
- An existing home in the municipality of Breda sold in 2025 for €509,000 on average, +5.0% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).
Written by Jiri, estate agent in Maastricht and founder of DoorLetter.
Updated on 6 October 2026.
For many people in Breda, Ginneken is where their search ends. It has stayed a village, with its own market square and the Mastbos round the corner, and yet you can cycle to the city centre in no time. Anyone who has a house here rarely parts with it. What comes free is first passed on around the Ginnekenmarkt. It often goes to a neighbour who wants to move up or to a family that has been known to an agent for years, and sometimes to someone who once put a letter through the door.
Until 1942 Ginneken belonged to the municipality of Ginneken en Bavel; after that the village became part of Breda. It is much older than the city neighbourhoods around it, and the old core is a protected village townscape. The Ginnekenweg, the old road from the city centre to the village, has town houses and villas. Around the market square small village houses stand next to spacious pre-war homes. Most in demand is a pre-war house with a garden within walking distance of the market square, and it is precisely those houses that come free least often.
If I were looking here, I would take the last stretch of the Ginnekenweg before the market square and the Ulvenhoutselaan, and write to the residents of the houses that suit us. I would briefly write down who we are, why we want to move to Ginneken, and that we are going to live there ourselves and are not buying the house to let it out. In a village like this a letter like that gets discussed at the kitchen table, so write it as if the neighbours are reading along.
Ginneken 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
- 3,028
- BAG via PDOK
Value and prices
- Average sale price, municipality of Breda
- €509,000+5.0% 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 Breda per year since 1995
Streets people ask about
These are the streets most often named by people searching in Ginneken. Choose one or two where you would really want to live, not the whole list.
Ginnekenmarkt · Ginnekenweg · Ulvenhoutselaan · Bavelselaan · Duivelsbruglaan
Postcode area 4835.
Other neighbourhoods in Breda
This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in Ginneken.
Frequently asked questions
How do I approach owners in Ginneken?
Write one personal letter to the residents of the houses where you would really want to live, for instance in the streets around the Ginnekenmarkt. Say who you are, why Ginneken, and that you are going to live there yourself. 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 Ginneken?
Little, certainly of the pre-war houses near the market square and along the Ginnekenweg. Those only come free when the owners really have to move, and then the buyer is often already known: someone from the village, or a family that had come forward to an agent. With a letter you make sure your name is known too.
Which streets are most sought after?
The stretch of Ginnekenweg just before the village and the streets around the Ginnekenmarkt. Also look at the quieter streets on the edge of the village, towards the valley of the Mark: those are mentioned less often, and with a letter you have less competition there.
Is Ruitersbos part of Ginneken?
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) counts Ruitersbos as a neighbourhood of its own: the villa area on the edge of the Mastbos, with detached houses on large plots. The figures on this page cover Ginneken only. If you are looking for a detached house with the woods close by, include Ruitersbos when you send your letters.
Write to the owners in Ginneken.
Pick a street, write in your own words why you want to live in Ginneken, 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