Mortgages taken from banks totaled NIS 3.5 billion in October, down 10.4%, compared with September, and 20%, compared with October 2013. The figure is the lowest in the past year.
The low volume of mortgages is due to two main factors: the Sukkot holiday, which took place in October and detracted from activity, and people waiting for the 0% VAT law, which affected total deals in the real estate market, thereby reducing the volume of mortgages.
The average monthly mortgage volume so far this year is NIS 4.2 billion; the volume of mortgages in October was thus 16% less than the monthly average this year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 11, 2014
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