In the first five months of 2022, the number of homes purchased in Israel was down 7% compared with the corresponding period of 2021, the Chief Economist of the Ministry of Finance reports. However, over the same period the number of homes bought by young couples rose 1%, the same report found.
Despite the fall in the number of housing deals in the first five months of 2022, NIS 12 billion worth of mortgages were taken in May, compared with NIS 9.5 billion in May 2021.
According to the report, 53,400 apartments were purchased between January and May 2022, compared with 57,300 in the first five months of 2021. Moreover, the figures show that the gap is widening between purchases this year and last year as each month passes.
Concerns about an economic crisis, the rise in interest rates and perhaps even the very high prices seems to be taking their toll in 2022, on top of the purchase tax for investors imposed in late 2021. In the first five months of the year there was a 25% fall in apartment purchases by investors.
But young couples seem to have increased the number of homes purchased from 26,900 in the first five months of 2021 to 27,200 in the first five months of 2022. The figure is all the more surprising because the number of apartments bought by young couples eligible for government subsidized programs fell from 5,900 to 5,500, thus more young couples are buying on the open market.
The Chief Economist of the Ministry of Finance also found a rise in housing sales in the south where prices are relatively low.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 12, 2022.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.