A Knesset committee will examine the rental housing market - why prices don't stop to surge

After Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman claimed yesterday that rental prices had not risen significantly, the Knesset approved the establishment of a committee to examine the rental housing market under the Economics Committee, headed by MK Yevgeny Soba, a Knesset member of Lieberman Yisrael Beiteinu's party. The faction because he did not know at all about the establishment of the committee and not about the appointment of MK Soba.
 The committee that will be established will also include MK Limor Magen Telem (Yisrael Beiteinu) and MKs Ron Katz (Likud) and Uri Maklev (Torah Judaism). That the possibility of buying a house is receding, saying that the committee is concerned about the pace of solutions proposed by the government. "The wild market of tenants, the weakness of tenants vis-à-vis landlords and price increases - this is something that requires individual treatment, control over government ministries and perhaps even legislation initiated by the committee and led by MK Soba."
Soba: "The rental market in Israel is wild and requires close monitoring. The committee will act in accordance with developments in the housing market and government plans, and will present its results to the government." In a personal tone, MK Soba added: "I have been living in rent for years and I must say - this feeling of tenants as the contract renewal date approaches is really not easy, there is always a real concern about how much the rent will increase."
MK Maklev said there are few issues in the economics committee that are in dispute between the coalition and the opposition, and that there is no doubt that the establishment of the committee stems from Chairman Bitton's concern for the weak. He added that rent is the most significant component in the recent rise in prices, and said a subcommittee would be able to see the overall picture.
Lieberman stated his position regarding the price increases in the rental market during a press conference he convened yesterday, during which he solemnly announced together with Ministers Zeev Elkin and Ayelet Shaked a new housing plan, even though some of the previous plans published in the matter did not materialize. "The rent index has only risen by 1.5% in the last year, no increase of 30%, 40% or 60% as I see it being advertised in the media," Lieberman said yesterday. "This is the official CBS figure, and even if they were wrong, I find it hard to believe that there are such abnormal increases."
Economist Dr. Yaakov Sheinin, CEO of Economic Models, explained why it is difficult to estimate the rise in rental prices. "The main problem at the moment is that apartment prices have jumped by 16% in the last year. A complete picture of the rental market does not yet exist, because rental contracts are usually signed for a year or more. That is, it makes sense Of the prices of apartments on the rental market is not short-term. "
Sheinin further explained that "it should be understood that apartment prices are rising at an unprecedented and extreme rate compared to other years, but people are still willing to invest in buying an apartment and get not very high rent because they are confident in the profit they will increase. People buy many apartments today. "They make a lot of money from the increase in the value of the apartment, and many times they are willing to rent it out at relatively low yields."
Meanwhile in the field, despite the data relating to the average and possibly not fully reflecting the actual situation, it seems that quite a few tenants are forced to leave their homes because of the rising rental prices. Adi Shargel, (35), married + 2, who has lived in Tel Aviv all her life, recently decided to leave the city because of the high cost of living.
"We have increased our rent from NIS 7,600 per month to a 3-room apartment to NIS 9,000, the price of the gardens for next year has already reached NIS 5,500 per month - and that is even before the other expenses that climb," she tells Ynet. "Even if we try very hard to save, we can hardly do it. It's just impossible all these things together."
According to Shergel, beyond her personal problem, she is also concerned about the nature of the city that is changing due to price increases: "It should be understood that all people who work in professions that hold this city, such as teachers and cleaners, etc., can no longer live here. The city while the hitchhikers stay because they have the money.
"I have no criticism of high-tech people who work hard and pay taxes because they have money, my criticism is towards the government that does not allow affordable housing for all sections of the population in Tel Aviv. Right now I feel the city is no longer what it used to be and it actually kicks me out."

The surge in real estate prices and the government's failure so far in completing legislation for many programs in the field that have been presented in recent months, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Construction and Housing Minister Zeev Elkin, and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced Sunday at a press conference Another program to tackle the issue.
Among the measures of the plan presented: Increasing the discount and supply in the Ministry of Housing program "Apartment at a discount": During the press conference, Housing Minister Zeev Elkin said that thousands more apartments will be offered beyond the promised 30,000 apartments, and next year the number will increase to 40-45 thousand units. Additional housing.
 The amount of the discount for the winners of the apartments will increase up to the amount of NIS 500,000, linked to the December 2020 assessment; The number of apartments that will be raffled off as part of the "discounted apartment" will be expanded by about 10,000 housing units in the central area (an increase from 60% to 80%) that will be allocated to those entitled to housing. In addition, the percentage of locals in these lotteries will increase from 25% to 35% nationwide; In Priority Area B, the rate of housing units to be allocated to locals will increase from 32% to 40% of all dwellings; Increasing the subsidy for an apartment at a discount in the periphery for development by up to an additional NIS 40,000. The issue will come to the approval of the nearest housing cabinet.