Buying a house in Blijdorp (Rotterdam): how to reach the owners

Blijdorp 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

  • Blijdorp has 11,408 addresses in the BAG register.
  • An existing home in the municipality of Rotterdam sold in 2025 for €415,000 on average, +2.9% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).
Jiri

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

Updated on 5 October 2026.

Blijdorp is the neighbourhood in Rotterdam that young families want to move to as soon as the first child arrives, and where they stay as long as the flat allows. Flats do come up for sale, but the spacious corner homes on the Statensingel and the ground-floor flats with a garden rarely appear on Funda. Those go through the stairwell, or to someone who had already come forward.

The neighbourhood was built between 1931 and 1939 to Witteveen's plan: half-open building blocks, wide avenues such as the Statenweg, and walk-up flats of three or four floors. Bergpolder, on the other side of the Schie, is from the same period and slightly plainer, with the Bergpolderflat, the first gallery-access block of flats in the Netherlands. Together they are a protected townscape. There are almost no whole houses; the most sought after is a ground-floor flat with a garden near the Vroesenpark.

If I were looking here, I would pick a few stairwells on the Statensingel or the Bentincklaan and write to the residents of the flats I like. Who I am, why Blijdorp, and that I am going to live there myself. In a stairwell of six homes everyone knows who is going to move, long before the sign goes up in the window.

Blijdorp 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
11,408
BAG via PDOK

Value and prices

Average sale price, municipality of Rotterdam
€415,000+2.9% 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 Rotterdam per year since 1995

Streets people ask about

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

Statenweg · Statensingel · Bentincklaan · Stadhoudersweg · Vroesenlaan · Noorderhavenkade

Postcode area 3039 and 3038.

Other neighbourhoods in Rotterdam

This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in Blijdorp.

Frequently asked questions

How do I approach owners in Blijdorp?

Pick a few stairwells or a stretch of street where you would really want to live and write the residents one personal letter: who you are, why Blijdorp, and that you are not an investor. 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 Blijdorp?

Ordinary flats come up regularly and go quickly. The spacious corner homes and the ground-floor flats with a garden rarely come free and often go outside Funda, within the stairwell or the owner's network. It is precisely for that kind of home that a letter pays off.

Which streets are the most sought after?

The Statensingel and the Statenweg, the streets around the Vroesenpark and the Noorderhavenkade on the water. But sought after also means a lot of competition; a quiet side street that you find beautiful often gives you a better chance than the avenue everyone names.

What is the difference between Blijdorp and Bergpolder?

Both were built in the 1930s and together they are a protected townscape. Blijdorp, to the west of the Schie, is more generously laid out, with wider avenues and larger flats; Bergpolder is slightly plainer and more mixed. CBS counts them as two neighbourhoods; for many people looking, Bergpolder is part of the same search.

Write to the owners in Blijdorp.

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