Corona? Nearly 11,000 new apartments were sold in January – real estate

The Chief Economist’s Division of the Ministry of Finance published a weekly economic survey focused on the residential real estate industry in January 2021. The data show that the third closure imposed by the Israeli government in January 2021 did not prevent apartment buyers – both new and second-hand apartments – from making transactions.

In January, 10.5 thousand apartments were purchased in the real estate market, an increase of 7% compared to January last year, but a sharp decrease of 22% compared to the high level recorded last December, the decrease is a seasonal phenomenon, but this year is higher. Transactions at 9.8 thousand, an increase of 16% compared to January last year, a significantly moderate growth rate than that recorded since the purchase tax on investment apartments was reduced, compared with the previous month the number of transactions in the free market decreased by 16%.

The Tel Aviv area continues to stand out in its weakness in the level of transactions, when in the market segment of second-hand apartments, the level of transactions dropped to one of the lowest recorded in January in this area in the last twenty years.

Contractors’ sales in January totaled 3.4 thousand, a decrease of 2% compared to January last year and a sharp decrease of 37% compared to the record level recorded in the previous month. After deducting the “price per occupant”, the contractors’ sales amounted to 2.8 thousand apartments, tendon
And 25% compared to January last year, but a decrease of a similar rate compared to the previous month.

Investors’ purchases in January amounted to 2.2 thousand apartments, a sharp increase of 58% compared to January last year, against the background of a reduction in the purchase tax at the end of last July. Compared to the previous month, investor purchases fell by 13%. At the rate of total transactions, the weight of investors in the market was 21%, seven percentage points higher than in January last year and two percentage points higher than in the previous month.

Investor sales in January also totaled 2.2 thousand apartments, an increase of 5% compared to January last year, but a decrease of 10% compared to the previous month. This leaves a significant change in the “inventory” of apartments in the hands of investors in January. Since this inventory began to decline in April 2016, about 27,000 apartments have been deducted from it, but since last August, the inventory decline has amounted to less than 300 apartments, against the background of lowering the purchase tax on “another apartment.”

Purchases of “first apartment” in the free market amounted to 3.9 thousand apartments in January, an increase of 14% compared to January last year, but a decrease of a similar rate compared to the previous month. Purchases of housing improvers in January totaled 3.6 thousand apartments, unchanged from January last year and a decrease of 22% compared to the previous month.

“Price per occupant” sales continued to fall in January by a sharp 49% compared to January last year, following sharp declines in these purchases since the outbreak of the corona plague. The analysis of the wage levels of the buyers indicates lower wage levels than of those who purchased an apartment in this framework before the crisis.