Finance Minister Kahlon
Kahlon fails to stop rising property prices
Housing prices rose 8% compared to the previous year, and 4% compared to the year before that; Meanwhile, the number of real estate transactions is only going up.
The price of property has not stopped going up. According to a survey conducted by government appraiser Tal Aldrotti comprising of 5,200 real estate transactions in 16 cities, two bedroom apartments became 1.6 percent more expensive in the first quarter of 2016 than the last quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, prices have jumped by an average of 8 percent when compared with the first quarter of 2015.
The assessment by Aldrotti comes one year after Moshe Kahlon began his term as finance minister, and promised to bring the matter under control. However, prices have doubled instead.
The report also compared the first quarter of 2015 with the first quarter of 2014 and found that there had been a 4 percent rise in prices during Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid's term as finance minister. People in 2014 were waiting to see if Lapid's "zero VAT reform" would work, causing people to delay property acquisitions in anticipation of the new regulations.
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Gil Nachshoten)
The year before, housing prices rose by 5percent, and still Minister Kahlon hasn't responded. According to Aldrotti, the prices of the types of apartments surveyed surged 13% compared to the quarter before it.
He said that the "price per occupant" did not influence the quarterly facts. Even though the first projects began in the public market, the influence of the program, if it exists, has not been significant and, “it can be assumed that the assessments were included some of the public who qualified for this program."
While prices rose in the majority of the cities surveyed. However, in two of the cities – Ashkelon and Jerusalem – there was no raise in housing prices. In four cities, the prices actually fell.
