Apartment prices up
צילום: ג'רמי פלדמן
Apartment prices up 3.5% in Q2
Sharpest increase recorded in Haifa – 9%. In Tel Aviv-Jaffa prices up 1%. Nahariya is only city to see decline in housing market, with 1% drop in prices
Apartment prices in Israel continued to rise in the second quarter of 2009 at an average rate of 3.5%, compared to the first quarter of the year, according to a quarterly price survey of the Justice Ministry's main governmental assessor, Eyal Yitzhaki.
According to the data, based on 5,100 second-hand deals signed in 16 different cities across Israel, the sharpest increase was recorded in Haifa – a 9% increase. For example, the price of an average four-room apartment, which stood at NIS 753,000 ($196,863) in the first quarter, now stands at NIS 823,000 ($215,750).
Nahariya is the only city which saw a decline in the housing market, with a 1% drop. The price of an average four-room apartment went down from NIS 660,000 ($173,114) to NIS 652,000 ($171,015).
Apartment prices remained unchanged in the cities of Ashdod and Netanya, at NIS 880,000 ($230,844) and NIS 1.02 million ($267,542), respectively.
Tel Aviv recorded a 1% increase in apartment prices, while a 3% increase was registered in four cities: Eilat, Ashkelon, Beersheba and Herzliya. The city of Rishon Lezion enjoyed a price hike of 7%, while apartment prices in Rehovot and Petah Tikva were up 6%.
The cities of Hadera and Holon recorded a 5% price hike. The price of a four-room apartment in Holon rose from NIS 1.101 million ($288,823) to NIS 1.154 million ($302,727) in the second quarter. A more modest price hike of about 2% was recorded in Jerusalem.
According to Yitzhaki, the price increase matches the apparent trend in the past few months, which points to a moderation in the negative trend and stabilization in the economic activity in Israel, as well as renewed expectations for growth in 2010.
In the same period, he explains, the influence of certain economic factors grew stronger, encouraging a rise in the demand for apartments. Yitzhaki estimates that the rise in apartment prices continues in the third quarter of 2009.
