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Photo: Eli Mendelbaum
Kahlon and Netanyahu
Photo: Eli Mendelbaum

Kahlon: 'Only very few can afford apartments'

After Netanyahu urged citizens to buy apartments in the south and the north, the finance minister laments high prices, indicating it's not as easy as the prime minister makes it sound.

In implied criticism, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) said Tuesday that while he too like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted people to be able to buy apartments, “only a few can afford to do so.”

 

 

During a ministerial visit to the northern city of Ma'alot-Tarshiha on Monday, Netanyahu announced his new financial plan to invigorate the north, focusing—among other issues—on the price of housing in the region.

 

"A few years ago—and you, my minister friends must remember this—we said, and I said, down south, 'Buy apartments, not just in Be'er Sheva, buy apartments in Dimona, in Yeruham. Buy apartments.' Some heeded the call and did so, and some did not," Netanyahu said.

 

PM Netanyahu with Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Flash90) (Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
PM Netanyahu with Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Flash90)

 

He further urged listeners to “Buy apartments, not just in Be'er Sheva, buy apartments in Dimona, in Yeruham. Buy apartments, invest in the Galilee, invest in it for it is the future."

 

On Tuesday, Kahlon implied this was not as easy as the prime minister making it out to sound, lamenting that “When there are apartments at high prices, only a few can buy them and I want everyone to buy.”

 

Governor of the Bank of Israel Karnit Flug also offered her own advice in response to Netanyahu’s exhortations that people part with the little cash at their disposal.

 

“To manage the housing crisis you don’t need miracles, but rather informed policy which is based on quality research support policy,” she said.

 

“The process of making supply meet the demand is long and complicated, and there is a central role for the government, given that it owns the majority of the land and is responsible for all the planning and licensing process, both in terms of regulatory policy, in various aspects, and tax policy.”

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.27.16, 19:03
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