© Shutterstock The housing market is cooling: only about 5,000 transactions were completed in November, 65% less than last year
| David Tversky, Devar News
The number of transactions in the Israeli housing market in October was one of the lowest recorded in the last 20 years, and the second-hand market alone records the lowest: the real estate review of the chief economist at the Ministry of Finance published today (Tuesday) shows a 65% decrease in transactions between last October and this of last year and 36% compared to last September.
The total number of transactions in the market was 5.1 thousand transactions, with about a fifth of them being investor purchases – an 80% decrease compared to October last year, which was also the last month before Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin’s increase in the investor tax. In the central region, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Netanya, decreases of about 70% were recorded in the number of second-hand transactions.
The sales of the contractors amounted to only 1.9 thousand apartments, the lowest level of sales since the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in April 2020. The Jerusalem region recorded a decrease of 45% and the Tel Aviv region of 84% – less than 100 apartments were sold in the city during the month – the lowest percentage of sales in the region in decades the last ones
The analysis of the financial situation of the buyers showed that the investors in the central region, the only one that recorded increases compared to September, had a higher salary on average (most of them are employed in high-tech) – and they made up about a quarter of the buyers – the average income of an investor’s household was about NIS 85 thousand per month, But according to the economist, because of the high prices, they also had to go into greater debt to make the purchases.
Alongside the economist’s review, Bank of Israel data also confirm the continuation of the tightening. According to the publication that also came out today, the total loans for housing purposes taken out in the month of November were 7.2 billion NIS, A decrease of 31% compared to the month last year.
Read the full article on the Devar news site