Articles by March, 2021

The mortgage market continues to boil: Bank of Israel data show that the volume of new mortgages taken out in February was NIS 7.3 billion, a jump of 19% compared to February last year, and of 11% compared to the average in the last 12 months. Similar to January, the average mortgage amount reached NIS 800,000 in February. The banking system notes that the strong data are due to high demand, for fear of continued price increases, and the lack of a plan to address the supply in the housing market on the horizon. In addition, economic uncertainty diminished with the gradual return to...

Corona morbidity is declining - and more relief is underway: The government approved tonight (Friday), shortly before Shabbat, new aviation regulations that will allow vaccinated or recovering patients exposed to Corona patients to board flights, and the obligation to measure temperature at terminal entry and boarding will be abolished. Ministers have confirmed that the new regulations will be in force until April 8. In light of the approval to bring only 3,000 Israelis into Israel daily, in an approved outline it was decided to impose on the Director General of the Ministry of...

The households of the Arabs in Israel are very vulnerable in relation to the households of the Jews, and accordingly suffered more severe damage during the Corona period, according to a report published by the Bank of Israel. The main reasons for this are low income and savings and lack of adequate infrastructure. The report noted that even before the corona, the Arab household was vulnerable: its average monthly income in 2018 was NIS 12,000 on average, compared with 18,000 in a Jewish household - a gap of 32%. 45% of Arab households are below the poverty level. Only in 29% of Arab...