It's now official: the Central Bureau of Statistics is the only government body authorized to publish data on home prices in Israel. The proposal, which Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon raised in the most recent session of the housing cabinet, and which was thought not to have been passed, has been published in the Reshumot (Official Israel Government Gazette) as a government resolution. Globes' enquiries revealed that the proposal was not passed by a vote at the cabinet session, but that the Ministry of Finance used a provision under which the relevant material can be distributed to ministers, and the decision then becomes binding if no objections are raised within an allotted time. This is what happened, and the decision was officially published today.
The resolution states that The Public Advisory Council for Statistics in Israel will instruct the Central Bureau of Statistics to complete its work on upgrading its information on the housing market within 90 days of commencement. It also stipulates that 'From October 1, 2016, the Central Bureau of Statistics will be the sole government body that will be authorized to publish data on indices of changes in prices of homes, and it will do so in a clear manner to the public."
The final text includes a clause stating that the Minister of Finance, in consultation with the Minister of Justice, may postpone the date that the resolution comes into force. At present, it does not look as though the Minister of Justice will intervene in the matter.
The upshot is that, starting in two days' time, the Chief Government Assessor in the Ministry of Justice as well as the Ministry of Construction and Housing and any other government body that has data on real estate prices will not be able to publish them.
The Ministry of Finance insists that the plurality of data and indices on the housing market leads to confusion, and so it decided to put an end to the phenomenon and to stipulate that only one body will publish an index. The ministry says that the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Chief Government Assessor will be able to forward their figures to the Central Bureau of Statistics, which will decide whether and how to make use of them.
The proposal was submitted to the housing cabinet without notice, and it raised strong opposition among players the real estate market. Ronen Wagner, chairman of the continuing education committee of the Real Estate Appraisers Association, said in a statement today that the decision represented an admission by the minister of finance that his efforts to bring down housing prices in Israel had failed, and that he would call upon the association's chairman Ehud Danus to convene its board to file a petition against the decision.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 29, 2016
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