Despite the ongoing corona crisis, in November 2020 there was a 15% increase in apartment purchases compared to November 2019, and a 45% increase compared to the purchase of apartments a month earlier in October 2020 – the second closure period.
This emerges from a survey of the residential industry for November published by the chief economist at the Ministry of Finance, Shira Greenberg.
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Out of 11.1 thousand dwellings purchased in November, 2100 dwellings were purchased by investors, an increase of 75% compared to November 2019. Netanya and Jerusalem stand out, where there was a twofold increase in the purchase of dwellings by investors compared to November last year.
The share of investors in total transactions in the market was 19%, 6.5% higher than in November 2019 and 1% higher than the previous month. However, this rate is still significantly lower compared to the period before the purchase tax increase in June 2015. The sale of apartments by investors also increased by 33% compared to November 2019. An interesting fact that the Treasury notes is that since the outbreak of the corona crisis, the weight of self-employed In particular, in Tiberias and Nazareth, there was a 10% increase in the weight of independent investors who sold apartments compared to November 2019. This is compared to the central area, Rehovot and Beer Sheva, where there was a decrease of 2% -5% in the sale of apartments by independent investors and company owners.
Of the 11.1 thousand dwellings purchased in November, 4,000 dwellings were new dwellings sold by contractors, of which only 1,000 were in the price-per-tenant route. More than half of the apartments sold in the price-per-tenant track were in Haifa and Beer Sheva. In total, the sale of apartments in the price-per-tenant track in November fell by 38% compared to November 2019. On the other hand, the sale of new apartments in the free market rose by 53% compared to November 2019, with Netanya standing out with a 2x increase in new apartments compared to November last year.
Most of the apartments sold in November – 7,100 were apartments have a second. An increase of 17% compared to November 2019, and an increase of 49% compared to the previous month. The increase in second-hand transactions last November encompassed all areas except the Tel Aviv area, which recorded a decrease of 5% compared to November 2019.
The area with the highest increase is the Beer Sheva area with a 31% increase in the purchase of second-hand apartments compared to November 2019. On the other hand, the purchase of new apartments in the Beer Sheva area recorded a decrease of 17% compared to November last year. The Ministry of Finance estimates that the reason for this is that both the sales and the acquisitions in Be’er Sheva were led in November by the investors.