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

The Professorenwijk 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 Professorenwijk has 2,214 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).
Jiri

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

Updated on 4 October 2026.

The Professorenwijk is the neighbourhood that Leiden families want to move to as soon as the second child arrives, and that almost nobody wants to leave. The houses often go from parent to child or from neighbour to neighbour. The university, the LUMC and the Bio Science Park provide a steady stream of new people looking, often from outside the Netherlands, and they are all standing in the same queue on Funda.

It is a 1930s neighbourhood, largely built between 1925 and 1940, with streets named after professors. Wide avenues such as the Lorentzkade and the De Sitterlaan with town houses and semi-detached houses, and quieter side streets with terraced houses with a bay window and a deep garden. In Professorenwijk-Oost there is also some post-war building. The spacious 1930s house with a garden is what everyone is looking for and what comes free the least.

If I were looking here, I would pick two or three streets where I would really want to live, for instance the Zeemanlaan or the Cobetstraat, and write to the residents of the houses that suit me. Short and honest: who we are, why the Professorenwijk, and that we are going to live in the house ourselves. Residents here plan far ahead; a letter that gets kept sometimes surfaces again after two years.

Professorenwijk 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
2,214
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 Professorenwijk. Choose one or two where you would really want to live, not the whole list.

Lorentzkade · De Sitterlaan · Zeemanlaan · Cobetstraat · Van der Waalsstraat · Buys Ballotstraat

Postcode area 2313.

Other neighbourhoods in Leiden

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in de Professorenwijk.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in the Professorenwijk?

With a short, personal letter to the residents of the houses where you would really want to live: who you are, why the Professorenwijk, 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 the Professorenwijk?

Little, and demand is high, also from people who come to Leiden for the university or the Bio Science Park. Part of the sales take place outside Funda, from neighbour to neighbour or through an estate agent who already knew a buyer. That is why writing to owners yourself pays off here.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The wide avenues, such as the Lorentzkade and the De Sitterlaan, and the quiet streets in between. But sought after also means a lot of competition; a street that you find beautiful and that not everyone names often gives you a better chance.

What is the difference with the Burgemeesterswijk?

The Burgemeesterswijk lies to the west of the Professorenwijk, on the other side of the Burggravenlaan, and is from the same period, with comparable 1930s houses. CBS counts them separately; for most people looking here, it is part of the same search.

Write to the owners in the Professorenwijk.

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

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