Buying a house in Berkum (Zwolle): how to reach the owners
Berkum 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
- Berkum has 1,948 addresses in the BAG register.
- An existing home in the municipality of Zwolle sold in 2025 for €451,000 on average, +0.0% on 2024 (CBS StatLine).
Written by Jiri, estate agent in Maastricht and founder of DoorLetter.
Updated on 6 October 2026.
Berkum is a neighbourhood where houses stay in the same hands for a long time. Anyone living here in a semi-bungalow or a semi-detached house with a spacious garden has little reason to move, and so little comes free. When it does happen, there is often already someone in the picture before the house is online: a neighbour who wants to live on one level, the seller's children, or someone who sent a letter earlier.
Until 1967 Berkum belonged to the municipality of Zwollerkerspel, and for a long time it was a hamlet with scattered farms between the Overijsselse Vecht and the Nieuwe Vecht. Only after the war was it built up. The streets with tree names, such as the Berkenlaan and the Elzenlaan, are from the 1950s and the early 1960s. From the late 1960s the avenues named after scientists were added, with semi-bungalows and semi-detached houses on spacious plots. There is a lot of garden around the houses and a lot of greenery in the streets. A detached house or a semi-bungalow with a large garden is what most searchers hope for, and that comes free least of all.
If I were searching here, I would choose the Lorentzlaan or the Pieter Zeemanlaan and write to the residents of the houses that suit my family. Short and honest: who we are, why Berkum, and that we are going to live in the house ourselves. An owner who has lived here since the house was built wants to know who comes after him.
Berkum 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
- 1,948
- BAG via PDOK
Value and prices
- Average sale price, municipality of Zwolle
- €451,000+0.0% 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 Zwolle per year since 1995
Streets people ask about
These are the streets most often named by people searching in Berkum. Choose one or two where you would really want to live, not the whole list.
Berkenlaan · Elzenlaan · Dennenlaan · Lorentzlaan · Pieter Zeemanlaan · Boerhaavelaan
Postcode area 8024.
Other neighbourhoods in Zwolle
This page in Dutch: Huis kopen in Berkum.
Frequently asked questions
How do I approach owners in Berkum?
First walk through the avenues that appeal to you, choose the houses where you would really want to live and send the residents one personal letter: who you are, why Berkum, 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 Berkum?
Not much. The houses often only come free when the residents downsize, and some of those change hands without Funda, through the neighbours, the family or an agent who already had a buyer waiting. Anyone who wants a house with a spacious garden here is better off writing to the owners now than waiting for an advertisement.
Which streets are the most sought after?
Many searchers look first at the avenues with semi-bungalows and semi-detached houses, such as the Lorentzlaan and the Pieter Zeemanlaan, and at the tree streets around the Berkenlaan. Let the choice depend above all on what suits you; in a street fewer people are looking at, your letter stands out more.
What is the difference between the older and the younger streets?
The tree streets, such as the Berkenlaan and the Elzenlaan, are the oldest, from the 1950s and the early 1960s. The avenues named after scientists, such as the Lorentzlaan and the Pieter Zeemanlaan, are from the late 1960s, with many semi-bungalows and semi-detached houses. Anyone who wants to live on one level looks mainly there. The CBS counts it all as one neighbourhood.
Write to the owners in Berkum.
Pick a street, write in your own words why you want to live in Berkum, 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