The luxury housing market is beginning to recover. That, at least, is what Habas Group (TASE: HABS) chairman Hertzel Habas claims. At an annual real estate conference of Ernst & Young Israel and Samet, Steinmetz, Haring, Gurman & Co., Habas said, "What we experienced in the past several months is quite an extreme phenomenon, and near total disregard from customers interested in luxury housing. But from the beginning of the year, and mainly in the past two months, there has been a recovery, and we are seeing the strongest interest of the past two years. We even raised prices in the past year. Our inventory of apartments is small, but demand is still heavy."
On the middle class housing market, Meshulam Levinstein Contracting and Engineering Ltd. (TASE:LEVI) CEO Shaul Lotan said, "I can say with certainty that there is no doubt that the trend of housing prices will be upward. Although recently developers have begun to receive financing, the demand is still greater than the supply, and so while there won't be a jump in prices, the trend will be rising prices. We are seeing demand that began after the halt at the end of 2008. Since September, we have raised prices four times, by 2-3% each time. We also see buyers who are buying as investment."
Uri Dori Engineering Works Corp. (TASE: DORI) chairman and CEO Uri Dori said, "There is no real estate bubble in Israel, because we have been at the same slow pace and at a low point of building starts for several years now. Most of the market is for apartments costing between NIS 1-2 million. This is a massive market, and meets specific needs of the population, and so there is demand, and prices are even rising. Inputs are not cheaper, so there isn't a dramatic drop in apartment prices. Since September, there have been real price rises of 5% in apartment prices, not because the economy is booming, simply because there are few apartments on the market. As long as there is high demand, these apartments will be sold. As long as there is no oversupply, this market is at an advantage."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 18, 2009
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