Recovery in the real estate market: 107,000 apartments were sold in 2020

Despite the corona crisis, the real estate market showed a recovery in the second half of the year: 107,000 apartments were sold in 2020 - a decrease of only 2% compared to 2019, according to a survey of the residential real estate industry, published today (Wednesday) The curator, Shira Greenberg. The central area stands out with a 16% decrease in the number of apartments sold in the past year compared to the one that preceded it. On the other hand, the Beer Sheva area stands out with an increase of 11%.
December alone recorded one of the highest levels of transactions in the real estate market, at least in the last 20 years (excluding 2013), when these amounted to 13,400 apartments sold. According to the Treasury, this is the highest level of transactions in one month since The record level was recorded in June 2015, against the background of a wave of acquisitions by investors in the same month before the increase in the purchase tax on apartments purchased for investment (then the number of transactions was 17,000).
The data show that 8,000 second-hand apartments were sold last December - an increase of 21% compared to the same period in 2019 and a 12% increase compared to November 2020. Sales were made mainly in the Haifa, Beer Sheva and Hadera areas. In the Tel Aviv area, there was a 9% decrease in the sale of apartments, while the Ministry of Finance notes that the area is characterized by a weakness in sales of second-hand apartments.
In an annual summary, 68,000 second-hand apartments were sold in 2020 - also a decrease of 2% compared to 2019. In the Tel Aviv area, there was an annual decrease of 14%. As for new apartments from a contractor, 39,000 apartments (including "price per occupant") were sold in the past year by contractors - a moderate decrease of only 1% compared to 2019. After deducting government-subsidized apartments, the contractors executed 25,000 transactions - an increase of 9% compared to 2019.
As for investors' purchases, December amounted to 2,500 apartments - the highest level since March 2016. Compared to December 2019, this is a sharp increase of 65% against the background of the purchase tax reduction last July. Compared to November 2020 this is an increase of 12%. The share of investors was about 19%, five percentage points higher than in December 2019 and 1 percentage point lower than in the previous month.