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Real estate activities

NACE 68
Current registrations 55,055
Starters, 12 months 2,8585.2 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 2043.7 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 26,0483,014 employers · latest accounts
Median age 11.4 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 84.3%46,413 of 55,049 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

187 companies file their annual accounts outside the standard format, for example in a sector format. Their figures and staff are missing from the employment, the medians and the largest employers.

Show the 187 companies

Activities

NACE division 68 · 11 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Renting and operating of own or leased non-residential real estate, excluding land68203 12,069 651 15 6,700
Real estate agency activities68310 11,707 824 32 4,585
Development of residential building projects68121 9,515 308 92 4,044
Renting and operating of own or leased residential real estate, excluding social housing68201 9,067 344 16 1,878
Buying and selling of own real estate68110 7,223 343 31 1,992
Property management for co-owned buildings (syndics)68321 3,659 85 8 1,597
Development of non-residential building projects68122 1,265 81 7 790
Real estate appraisal on a fee or contract basis68322 973 140 2 149
Real estate activities68204 587 21 0 80
Real estate activities68202 205 4 1 4,185
Real estate activities68329 161 74 0 13

Filed accounts

NACE division 68 · financial year 2025 · 35,623 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
31.4%
Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€8,426
Belgium €16,468
Median equity
€167,230
Belgium €98,204
Loss-making
38.2%
Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
17.6%
Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
5.6%
Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.18
Belgium 1.66
Filed late
36.2%
financial year 2024, 33,982 filings · Belgium 38.5%
Missing or 90 days late
4.3%
of 37,770 companies with annual accounts · Belgium 5.5%
Per financial year20182019202020212022202320242025
Median solvency --31.7%31.3%31.3%31.3%30.9%31.1%
Median net result --€8,110€9,525€9,013€6,864€6,651€8,003
Filed late 38.6%44.9%42.1%41.1%38.8%37.8%36.2%-

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 68

2,647 employers
Median
€62,300
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€48,800 to €79,700
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
53 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €60,400 €47,500 to €78,100 2,211
10 to 49 FTE €70,400 €57,900 to €84,400 363
50 to 249 FTE €75,500 €69,800 to €86,900 68

Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
601
1.09% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%

Bankruptcies per year in division 68

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies259238230201237147130172172179222159
Jobs lost343300340245321220243273242264322220

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
13-11-2026 Hevra
BE 0747.758.152
10-11-2026 JOPI Immobilière
BE 0828.313.484
09-11-2026 DGS Invest
BE 0759.942.837
09-11-2026 ALF BUILD
BE 0798.908.925
06-11-2026 Callebout, Andy
BE 0748.863.952 · sole trader · Ninove
05-11-2026 NEMESIS
BE 0429.219.060
05-11-2026 Lion Projectmanagement
BE 0803.685.184
05-11-2026 EDENIA
BE 0839.513.422

Every bankruptcy in division 68, last 90 days

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 68
Number
651
Half have run longer than
28 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
39%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,810 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 29% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).

This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 14 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.

Outcome by court and division

Spread across the country

by region and province · 45,767 of 55,055 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 28,780 · 62.9%
  • Wallonia 10,479 · 22.9%
  • Brussels 6,353 · 13.9%
  • Abroad 155 · 0.3%
fewer moremax 7,916

This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address

Largest employers

NACE division 68 · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Centre Hospitalier Interrégional Edith Cavell - Les Hôpitaux de Braine-l'Alleud - Waterloo, de Delta et de Sainte-Anne Saint-Remi; les Cliniques de la Basilique et Edith Cavell, les Centres...Auderghem 3,325 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 VLAAMSE LANDMAATSCHAPPIJSaint-Josse-ten-Noode 586 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 Wonen in LimburgHouthalen-Helchteren 398 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 WOONHAVEN ANTWERPENAntwerp 396 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 CBRE GWS BelgiumMachelen (Brab.) 251 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 5,129 companies
  • 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 2,149
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 1,776
  • 124 Construction 477
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 466
  • 302 Hotels and catering 202
  • 201 Independent retail 122
  • 307 Insurance brokers and agencies 70
  • 112 Garages 65
Show the 12 others
  • 339 Approved social housing companies 49
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 38
  • 330 Health institutions and services 38
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 37
  • 336 Liberal professions 37
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 35
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 32
  • 339.02 Approved social housing companies 32
  • 119 Food trade 29
  • 144 Agriculture 27
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 25
  • 145 Horticulture 24

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

260 of the 44,351 companies in NACE division 68 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: Luxembourg (107), Netherlands (56) and France (32). Together they employ 560 of the division's 26,048 FTE: 2.1%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €1.11bn awarded 3,796 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Tussenkomst FS3 aan initiatiefnemers
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €8.8m paid 23 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subvention en capital à la SA Conservatoire de Bruxelles
  • Federal transfers 16.9m amount as published 8 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelage aan de BGHM
  • EU budget €138.7m attributed share 49 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Rents and purchases
  • EU research €8.6m EU contribution 10 recipients · 2008 to 2027 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Real estate

Balance sheet and result. Return on equity of 5.6% is below Belgium's 15.9%. The median net result of €8,426 is below Belgium's €16,468. 38.2% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 3.7 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 53% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.2% is above Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.2% at under 10 FTE, 0.1% at 10 to 49 FTE, 0.1% at 50 to 249 FTE and 0.2% at 250 FTE or more.

Inflow and structure. 16.9% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 5.2 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 67% of the 86 other NACE divisions. Half of the companies are younger than 11.4 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 4,956 of the 26,048 FTE: 19.0%.

Direction. In 2025, Statbel counted 222 bankruptcies and 322 jobs lost, against 147 bankruptcies in 2020.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 14-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 68 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,430 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 700,464 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.

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