Buying a house in the Zeeheldenkwartier (The Hague): how to reach the owners

The Zeeheldenkwartier 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 Zeeheldenkwartier has 7,969 addresses in the BAG register.
An existing home in the municipality of 's-Gravenhage sold in 2025 for €465,000 on average, +4.0% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).

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

Updated on 6 October 2026.

The Zeeheldenkwartier is The Hague neighbourhood where people start with a flat and then stay, because they no longer want to miss the life on the street and the centre around the corner. Small flats come onto Funda regularly, but the homes people are really waiting for, an upstairs flat with a roof terrace or a ground-floor flat with a garden, are rarely seen there. Those go through the neighbours in the same building, or to someone who had already come forward to the owner.

Most of it dates from the last quarter of the nineteenth century and was built for the middle classes; the streets are named after naval heroes such as Piet Hein, Zoutman, Van Speijk and Van Kinsbergen. They are narrow buildings with a ground-floor flat and one or two upstairs flats, here and there a town house, with a lot of Art Nouveau in the facades. The Piet Heinstraat and the Prins Hendrikstraat are the shopping streets, and on the Zeestraat, on the edge of the neighbourhood, stands Panorama Mesdag. An upstairs flat with a roof terrace or a ground-floor flat with a garden comes free least.

If I were searching here, I would choose the Van Kinsbergenstraat or a stretch of the Van Speijkstraat and write to the residents of the properties I like. Briefly: who I am, why the Zeeheldenkwartier, and that I am going to live there myself. In a split building the upstairs neighbour often knows before Funda does that someone downstairs is going to move.

Zeeheldenkwartier 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: 7,969; BAG via PDOK

Value and prices

Average sale price, municipality of Den Haag: €465,000+4.0% 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 Den Haag per year since 1995

Streets people ask about

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

Piet Heinstraat · Prins Hendrikstraat · Zoutmanstraat · Van Speijkstraat · Van Kinsbergenstraat · Heemskerckstraat

Postcode area 2518.

Other neighbourhoods in The Hague

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in het Zeeheldenkwartier.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in the Zeeheldenkwartier?

Choose a few properties in the streets where you would really want to live and write the residents one personal letter: who you are, why the Zeeheldenkwartier, 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 the Zeeheldenkwartier?

The supply consists mainly of small flats, and those go quickly. Homes with more space or their own outdoor space come free little and often change hands within the building or through acquaintances of the owner. Anyone looking for something like that reaches the owner better directly.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The quiet residential streets behind the Piet Heinstraat and the Prins Hendrikstraat, and the properties with a roof terrace or a garden. In the shopping streets themselves something comes free more often, but not everyone wants to live above a shop there; for anyone who does, there is an opportunity.

What is the difference with the Statenkwartier?

The Zeeheldenkwartier lies closer to the centre and is older and smaller in scale: narrow buildings with flats, many shops and cafes. The Statenkwartier, further towards the sea, is from around 1900, with wider avenues and larger town houses. For the CBS they are separate neighbourhoods. Anyone looking for a flat with life around them looks here; anyone who wants a whole town house, sooner in the Statenkwartier.

Write to the owners in the Zeeheldenkwartier.

Pick a street, write in your own words why you want to live in the Zeeheldenkwartier, 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