Crisis hits real estate market
Photo: Index Open
January sees 20% drop in sale of new apartments
Central Bureau of Statistics report shows real estate market in crisis, with only 880 new flats sold in January compared to 1,100 last year. New apartments on the market for one-year average
A 20% drop in the sale of new apartments was recorded in January compared to 2008, a Central Bureau of Statistics report released Thursday showed.
A total of 880 new apartments were sold last month, compared to 1,100 last year. Out of the apartments sold, 720 were still under construction at the time of purchase, and 160 of them having been completed over a period of 15 months before sale.
Some 41% of the new apartments sold in January 2009 were in central Israel, and some 21% were in the Tel Aviv district. The new apartments were on the market for an average of one year.
The sale of new apartments in the Jerusalem area saw a 120% rise, while 12.2% more new apartments were sold in the Haifa district last month.
A 45.7% drop in sales was noted in the northern district, while a 34.6% drop was recorded in Tel Aviv, with a 32.9% drop in the whole central district. The situation in southern Israel is a bit better, with only a 2.4% drop in sales of new apartments in January.
Not taking into account seasonal trends, during the period from October to January, an average 18.6% drop per month was recorded in the number of new apartments sold, totaling about 930 apartments.
These numbers are compared to the monthly averages from June to September 2008, that stood at 1,140 apartments.
The number of private-initiative new apartments on the market continues to decline, and by the end of January 2009, reached 9,650 – a 9% drop compared to last year.
Out of all the new apartments on the market in the end of January 2009, some 9,040 of them were still under construction, and 610 of them had been completed within the last 15 months.
The survey was conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics on private-initiative construction projects. Data is collected every month from contractors and sales offices. The survey does not include apartments that are not built for sale, such as apartments meant for rent, occupancy and hostels.
