Real Estate

Due to the peak data in the mortgage market, the Bank of Israel announced today that it has finally decided not to allow a loan to be used as equity to purchase an apartment. At the same time, it will be possible to take such a loan as a bridging loan for housing developers, until the end of the process of selling their existing property. That is, this prohibition will be particularly relevant to investors who are in fact leveraging an existing asset to purchase an additional asset. It should be noted that the activity of investors in the real estate market has increased in recent months,...

According to data from the Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance, Shira Greenberg, in January-March this year, about 31,000 apartments were purchased in the free market - the highest level since the record set in the second quarter of 2015, which overshadowed investors' pre-acquisition purchases. This is a 39% increase compared to the first quarter last year, which was partly overshadowed by the outbreak of the corona plague. Compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019, this is an increase of 29%. Compared to the last quarter of 2020, this is a more moderate increase of 8%. This...

June 2021 set a new benchmark in apartment purchases since the peak set in June 2015 (then investors preceded their purchase against the background of the purchase tax increase), in this month 13.8 thousand apartments were purchased an increase of 26% compared to June last year. Due to the corona virus. It is difficult to say that the figure for the high volume of transactions published by the Chief Economist's Division of the Treasury was surprising, given the Bank of Israel's data on the volume of mortgages in June, which set an all-time high of NIS 11.6 billion. This amount was divided...

The housing market is turbulent: According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in the 12 months of September 2020 to August 2021: 49,000 new apartments were purchased, a 32% jump compared to the previous 12 months September 2019 - August 2020. In that period 37,000 appartments were purchased. In the 12 months that passed until September 2021, construction also began on 13,000 apartments that are not for sale (for example, by purchasing groups and projects of your home)

The Jerusalem Municipality has approved three business complexes in East Jerusalem. The municipality, through the local planning and construction committee, this week approved the plan to build the business complex in Wadi Jouz, which was developed in a joint initiative with the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry. In addition, the plan for the development of an employment area in the a-Tour neighborhood was approved for deposit, and the plan for the establishment of an employment and commercial complex in the Umm Tuba neighborhood was approved. In the Wadi Jouz neighborhood, a plan for the...

The average mortgage amount decreased in September by about 3% compared to August to NIS 914,000. This is according to data from the mortgage market published by the Bank of Israel. This is the second month in a row that the average loan for the purchase of an apartment has decreased, after the peak recorded in July and stood at NIS 954.2 thousand. However, the average mortgage amount in September 2021 was 19.7% higher than in September 2020, when it stood at NIS 763,000

The housing market is boiling: According to a survey by the chief economist at the Ministry of Finance, Shira Greenberg, 14.1 thousand apartments were purchased in August alone, the highest level since the historic record in June 2015. This is a 31% increase compared to August last year and an 8% increase compared to last July. It should be noted that the level of transactions in August 2020 was high in itself against the background of a jump in investor purchases, after the purchase tax was lowered at the end of July that year. The survey shows that investors bought about three thousand...

A survey published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) regarding demand for new dwellings shows that despite the holidays, in September this year 4,727 new dwellings were sold to the general public - a 45% jump compared to September 2020, when 3,258 new dwellings were sold; compared to the previous month (August 2021 ) Where 3,902 new apartments were sold, an increase of 21%. On an annual basis (last 12 months - October 2020-September 2021), this is a 34% increase in the sale of new dwellings, after 51,454 new dwellings were sold in the past year, compared with 38,401 new dwellings...

The law to increase the purchase tax on apartments went into effect on Sunday. Under the new law, purchase tax brackets on investors will be changed from three to two. The tax rate will increase from 5% to 8%. The tax for apartment buyers worth up to NIS 5.348 million will be 8%, instead of 5% -7% to date. Buyers of a higher value investment apartment will pay 10%, as has been the case so far. The Ministry of Finance now hopes that raising the tax will curb the purchases of real estate investors. The tax increase was approved in the Knesset without significant changes from the bill...

The total number of new mortgages granted by the banks in Israel in November is NIS 10.98 billion, an increase of 2.5% compared to NIS 10.7 billion in October, according to data from the Bank of Israel. Since the beginning of 2021, NIS 104 billion in mortgages have been taken out - further evidence that 2021 is a particularly strong year in the real estate market. During the third quarter. If in 2020 the total monthly mortgage taking averaged about NIS 6.5 billion, then 2021 is expected to end with a monthly average of NIS 9.45 billion in taking out mortgages. This is despite the fact that...