Buying a house in the Pieterswijk (Leiden): how to reach the owners

The Pieterswijk 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 Pieterswijk has 1,851 addresses in the BAG register.
An existing home in the municipality of Leiden sold in 2025 for €492,000 on average, +3.8% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).

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

Updated on 6 October 2026.

The Pieterswijk is the part of Leiden's city centre around the Pieterskerk, and a neighbourhood where a house rarely appears on Funda. Around the churchyard sits the university, and some of the houses are let to students; the properties that belong to a resident stay in the same hands for a long time. If one comes free, it often goes to a neighbour, a colleague from the university, or someone who had already come forward.

It is one of the oldest parts of Leiden. Around the Pieterskerk stand the Gravensteen, the old prison that now belongs to the university, and on the Lokhorststraat the Latijnse School, where Rembrandt sat in class as a boy. On the Kloksteeg lived John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers; the Jean Pesijnshofje now stands on that spot. The houses are old: stately canal houses on the Rapenburg and narrow houses in the alleys, some of them split up. A whole house on the Rapenburg almost never comes free; an upstairs flat in one of the alleys more often.

If I were searching here, I would choose the Kloksteeg or a stretch of the Langebrug and write only to the residents of the properties that really appeal to me. In the letter: who I am, why the Pieterswijk, and that I am going to live there myself and will not divide the property into rooms. Anyone selling a house here that has long been in the family wants to know who it ends up with.

Pieterswijk 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: 1,851; BAG via PDOK

Value and prices

Average sale price, municipality of Leiden: €492,000+3.8% 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 Leiden per year since 1995

Streets people ask about

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

Rapenburg · Pieterskerkhof · Kloksteeg · Lokhorststraat · Langebrug · Breestraat

Postcode area 2311.

Other neighbourhoods in Leiden

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in de Pieterswijk.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in the Pieterswijk?

Choose the properties where you would really want to live and write the residents one personal letter: who you are, why the Pieterswijk, 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 Pieterswijk?

Little. Some of the properties belong to the university or to an almshouse foundation, others are let, and the houses of residents stay in the same hands for a long time. What comes free is often sold privately, to a neighbour or to someone the seller already knew.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The Rapenburg, with the canal houses, and the quiet alleys around the Pieterskerk, such as the Kloksteeg. The alleys are short, so here it is more about individual properties than about streets: choose the houses that really appeal to you and write only to those.

Many properties here are listed monuments. What does that mean for a buyer?

That you often need a permit for changes to the property, including inside, and that maintenance demands more care. There is something in return: a property like that and the street around it stay as they are. Ask the seller about permits and about the maintenance of recent years.

Write to the owners in the Pieterswijk.

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