Finance data reveal that the public wants to stay away from the center due to the overcrowding and cost of living but as one of the system people who come by train to work the train has to make a huge improvement in terms of frequency and conditions. The frequency of travel is ridiculous thus creating a population density that serves neither the public nor the state.
According to the Otzc data in the first quarter of 2022, which was also the first full quarter after the acquisition tax on investors (at the end of November last year), the rapid increase in the number of free market transactions (each quarter compared to the previous year) which has continued since the last quarter of 2020 Until the last quarter of last year, the total number of transactions in the free market was 31.2 thousand apartments, a moderate increase of 0.8% compared to the corresponding quarter last year, after a sequence of increases of 29% -99% in the five preceding quarters. Free In the last twenty years, this quarter has been ranked eighth. BS and Nazareth are ranked third in this quarter in historical comparison.
Including government-subsidized sales, the number of transactions in the first quarter of 2022 was 34.9 thousand, a moderate increase of 2% compared to the corresponding quarter last year and a sharp decrease of 21% compared to the previous quarter.
In the segmentation of transactions in the free market between the various regions, the fact stands out that while in all peripheral areas there was an increase in the number of transactions compared to the corresponding quarter last year, there were decreases in these purchases in all demand areas in the center except streets. Thus, while the number of transactions in the free market in the BS area increased by 14%, in the Tel Aviv area there was a decrease of 12%.
As the rate of total transactions in the free market, transactions in the periphery constituted about 44% of them (in quantitative terms -13.7 thousand dwellings), a record level of this weight at least in the last twenty years. However, as can be seen from Figure 2, this level is only 1 percentage point higher compared to the second quarter of 2017. That is, the increase in the weight of transactions in the periphery in the last two years can not necessarily be attributed to the effects of the corona plague. This is especially in light of the findings that the segment that recorded the sharpest increase in the weight of transactions in the periphery during the last two years was that of first-time home buyers. It is not inconceivable that economic constraints, among other things against the background of the sharp rise in housing prices in the past year, were among the factors that led to an increase in the weight of the periphery in the total number of first-time home purchases.
In analyzing the price levels of the apartments purchased in the free market, the price differences between the center and the periphery are noticeable. For example, the median price of an apartment purchased in the demand areas in the center of the country was NIS 2.19 million in the first quarter of the year, 61% higher than the median price in transactions made in the periphery. NIS 2.19, in the periphery only 11% of the transactions were made at a value higher than this amount.
In the first quarter of the year, the rapid increase in purchases of first dwellings in the free market continued, when these amounted to 13.9 thousand dwellings, an increase of 5% compared to the previous record recorded in the last quarter last year. Compared to the first quarter last year this is an increase of 22%. This is also the only segment that recorded an increase in transactions compared to the last quarter last year, as well as compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
Including the purchases with a government subsidy, the total purchases of the first apartment in the first quarter of this year were 17.6 thousand apartments, an increase of 21% compared to the corresponding quarter last year and an increase of 4% compared to the last quarter last year.