73% of the young couples' apartment purchases in 2020 were in the free market

The young couples despaired of the promises of discounted housing, and returned to the free market. 73% of the young couples' apartment purchases in 2020 were in the free market, according to a survey by the housing market of the chief economist at the Ministry of Finance, Shira Greenberg.
The survey shows that in the last quarter of 2020, the young couples purchased 11,000 apartments, the highest level since the last quarter of 2016, after which former Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon began a price-per-tenant program. The purchase of apartments in the free market by young couples jumped by 17% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019 and by 6% compared to the third quarter of 2020. Total subsidized apartment purchases in the quarter amounted to 3,600, a decrease of 26% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019.
Including sales of a price-per-tenant program, 32.4 thousand apartments were sold in the last quarter of 2020 - an increase of 19% compared to the last quarter of 2019. In the summary of 2020, 107.5 thousand apartments were sold - a decrease of 2% compared to 2019.
A price-per-tenant program, which guaranteed tens of thousands of young couples housing at a discounted price, was effectively discontinued in 2019, after the state reduced contractors ’tenders to the program, but the young couples continued to purchase apartments that had been raffled off in previous years. With the formation of the government in 2020, Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman announced a new and reduced version of subsidized housing, under the heading "Housing at a reduced price," but immediately after the announcement, the program's tenders were suspended due to lack of budget. At the beginning of the year, the required budgets were thawed, but the rate of publication of tenders for the construction of apartments remained very low.
In the inclusion of subsidized housing, young couples purchased 14.8 thousand apartments in the last quarter of 2020. Throughout the year, the young couples purchased 52,000 apartments, 38,000 of them in the free market.