Corona impact: Between January and March, 8,090 new apartments were sold, down 11.4%

First signs of the impact of the Corona crisis on the housing market: According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, between January and March, 8,090 new apartments were sold, down 11.4% from October to December, where 9,130 ​​apartments were sold. This is the first official figure that reflects the state of the field's sales, following the companies' reports that since the beginning of the restrictions on the sale of apartments, they were almost completely stopped.
It is estimated that this is a "softened" figure - because in January-February the Corona restrictions have not yet come into effect. Therefore, the April-June figures are likely to be more dramatic. The CBS data is divided into new dwellings sold and new dwellings not for sale - a figure consisting of self-built dwellings and purchase groups. The non-sale dwelling segment also decreased - by 11.3%, with 3,600 dwellings sold.
In total, there are 11,690 apartments (for sale and not for sale), of which the Tel Aviv district led by about 5,200 apartments, followed by the Southern District with about 4,000 apartments and the Central District with about 3,000 apartments. The Northern, Haifa and Jerusalem counties with about There are about 2,000 apartments in each, in the bush in Judea and Samaria, about 300 apartments in total.
The division into localities shows that there is a marked disparity between the various localities in the sale of new dwellings, and while in some of the settlements the volume of sales increased, in other cities there was a sharp decrease in the sales volume. At the top of the list of localities where there was an increase in sales of new apartments compared to the previous three months (October-December 2019) are the cities: Or Yehuda, with a 215% increase (564 compared with 179 apartments in the previous months); Streets with 135%, Netivot with 83.5%, Tel Aviv 62.4%, Kiryat Gat 59.5% and Tirat Carmel 57.9%
Surprisingly, at the top of the list of localities in which new dwelling sales fell, two cities are located in the heart of the demand areas: in Ramat Gan the sale of dwellings fell from 757 to 328 - a steep decline of 56.7%, in Herzliya a decrease of 35.6% and a decrease of 23.6% in Kiryat Yam . Decreases were also recorded in Raanana, of 15.3%, and in Holon - of 6.3%.
The inventory of new dwellings left for sale as of the end of March 2020 was approximately 37,750 apartments, compared with an inventory of 37,740 apartments at the end of February 2020.