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

The Vogelwijk 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 Vogelwijk has 515 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 5 October 2026.

The Vogelwijk is the Leiden neighbourhood for families who want a pre-war house with a garden, close to the station and the LUMC, and not necessarily in the Professorenwijk. Those who buy here stay. Little comes up for sale and part of that goes outside Funda: from neighbour to neighbour, to a colleague from the hospital, or to someone who had already come forward.

The neighbourhood lies between the Rijnsburgerweg and the railway, in the Boerhaavedistrict, and was largely built in the second half of the 1920s and in the 1930s, with streets named after birds. Mainly terraced houses with a bay window and a deep garden, and here and there later infill from the 1970s and from after 2000. The pre-war house with a garden in a quiet street is what everyone is looking for and what comes free least often.

If I were looking here, I would pick the Merelstraat and a stretch of the Lijsterstraat and write to the residents of the houses that suit me. Short and honest: who we are, why the Vogelwijk, and that we are going to live in the house ourselves. Residents here plan far ahead; a letter that is kept sometimes resurfaces after a year.

Vogelwijk 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
515
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 Vogelwijk. Choose one or two where you would really want to live, not the whole list.

Nachtegaallaan · Merelstraat · Lijsterstraat · Vinkenstraat · Leeuwerikstraat · Blauwe Vogelweg

Postcode area 2333.

Other neighbourhoods in Leiden

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in de Vogelwijk.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in the Vogelwijk?

With a short, personal letter to the residents of the houses where you would really want to live: who you are, why the Vogelwijk, 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 with the code in the letter, even months later.

Does much come up for sale in the Vogelwijk?

Little, and demand is high, including from people coming to Leiden for the LUMC or the university. Part of the sales go outside Funda, from neighbour to neighbour or through an agent who already knew a buyer. That is why it pays here to write to owners yourself.

Which streets are most sought after?

The Nachtegaallaan and the quiet streets behind it, away from the Rijnsburgerweg and the railway. But above all pick the street that suits you; a street not everyone mentions often gives you a better chance than the avenue that is in every top ten.

Is the Boerhaavedistrict part of the Vogelwijk?

The other way round: for Statistics Netherlands (CBS) the Boerhaavedistrict is the district and the Vogelwijk a neighbourhood within it. The rest of the district, around the LUMC and the Bio Science Park, is more mixed and younger. Anyone looking for pre-war Leiden looks in the bird streets themselves.

Write to the owners in the Vogelwijk.

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