Highest rise in demand for new apartments recorded in south
צילום: דורון גולן
May sees 35% rise in sale of new flats
Contractors sign deals on 1,900 new apartments, marking highest volume of sales since June 2009
Contactors in Israel sold some 1,900 new apartments in May, compared to 1,400 sold in April this year – a 35% rise, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported last week.
This figure marks the highest volume of sales since June 2009, when 2,100 apartments were sold.
The data referred to apartments in private and public construction. They do not include flats built for buyers groups, lease or personal use. In addition to 1,190 building starts, the demand for apartments in May reached 3,090 units – a 3% rise compared to the same period in 2009.
Some 1,580 of the new apartments sold to the public in May were privately initiated, while 320 were initiated by the State.
The first five months of 2010 saw a 5% increase in the number of new apartments sold compared to the same period in 2009.
The number of apartments initiated not for sales purposes remained stable. Some 43% of the apartments built for buyers groups are located in the Tel Aviv district, and about 27% in the Jerusalem district.
The first five month also recorded a rise in the demand for new apartments compared to the period between January and May of 2009, in the southern district (46%), Haifa (24.3%), central Israel (12.4%) and Tel Aviv (4.6%).
The Jerusalem district, however, recorded a 32.5% drop in the demand for new apartments. The northern district registered a 10% district.
The data also showed that the number of privately-initiated new apartments is decreasing, reaching only 8,990 units at the end of May 2010 – a 13% drop compared to May 2009. Some of 8,600 of these flats are still being built, while the construction of 390 of them was completed over the past 15 months.
