Buying a house in Bosch en Vaart (Haarlem): how to reach the owners

Bosch en Vaart 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

Bosch en Vaart has 1,020 addresses in the BAG register.
An existing home in the municipality of Haarlem sold in 2025 for €577,000 on average, +5.1% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).

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

Updated on 5 October 2026.

Bosch en Vaart is the Haarlem neighbourhood where I see people arrive from Amsterdam-Zuid and then stay for good. Very little comes up for sale, and what does come up has often already been sold before the photos are taken: to an acquaintance of the owner, to a family that has been on a list for years, or to someone who once put a letter through the door.

The neighbourhood was built from around 1900 on the land of the old country estate Bosch en Vaart, between the Leidsevaart and the Haarlemmerhout: town houses, villas and semi-detached villas on quiet avenues, with the Oranjeplein as its centre. Since 2011 it has been a protected townscape. Almost everything is a whole house with a garden. A villa on one of the avenues almost never comes free; a town house in the straight streets slightly more often.

If I were looking here, I would pick the Bosch en Vaartstraat and one or two side streets and send the residents there a short letter: why Bosch en Vaart, and that we are going to live in the house ourselves. In such a small neighbourhood a letter gets discussed in the school playground; make sure it deserves that.

Bosch en Vaart 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: 1,020; BAG via PDOK

Value and prices

Average sale price, municipality of Haarlem: €577,000+5.1% 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 Haarlem per year since 1995

Streets people ask about

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

Bosch en Vaartstraat · Uit den Bosstraat · Oranjeplein · Berkenrodestraat · Ipenrodestraat · Zomerluststraat

Postcode area 2012.

Other neighbourhoods in Haarlem

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in Bosch en Vaart.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in Bosch en Vaart?

With a short, personal letter to the residents of the houses where you would really want to live: who you are, why Bosch en Vaart, and that you are going to live there yourself. Through DoorLetter the first letter is free, printed and delivered by PostNL, and the owner can reply anonymously, even months later.

Does much come up for sale in Bosch en Vaart?

No. It is a small neighbourhood where people stay a long time, and the houses that come free have often already been sold before they are on Funda, to an acquaintance or through an estate agent with a list. Those who want to live here wait years for the right house, or write to the owners themselves.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The avenues with the villas and the Oranjeplein, and the streets that border directly on the Haarlemmerhout. But in Bosch en Vaart every street is short and sought after; pick the houses you really find beautiful and write to those, not the whole neighbourhood.

Is the Koninginnebuurt also part of Bosch en Vaart?

For many people in Haarlem it is one area; for CBS it is not: the Koninginnebuurt, to the north of the Schouwtjeslaan, is a neighbourhood of its own, from the same period and with comparable houses. Those looking in Bosch en Vaart can usually safely include the Koninginnebuurt in the same search.

Write to the owners in Bosch en Vaart.

Pick a street, write in your own words why you want to live in Bosch en Vaart, 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