High housing sales in May and June have reduced Israel's housing inventory to a six-month supply, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. 1,320 new privately built apartments were sold in July 2009, 14.3% fewer than the record 1,540 new apartments sold in June. 1,420 new apartments were sold in May.
8,180 new apartments were sold in January-July, 145 more than were sold in the corresponding months of 2008, and compared with 12,830 new apartments sold in 2008 as a whole. July 2009 new apartment sales were 25% more than the 1,050 apartments sold in July 2008.
A breakdown of housing inventory at the end of July by district, assuming the current rate of sales continues, was as follows: nine months in the Tel Aviv District, eight months in the Northern and Southern districts, seven months in the Jerusalem District, five months in the Central District, and four in the Haifa District.
The Central Bureau of Statistics figures agree with the figures published earlier this week by the Ministry of Housing and Construction. The ministry also reported a drop in public housing sales to 323 public apartments in July from 438 apartments in June and 356 apartments in May.
Privately built apartments are built by contractors on privately owned land or land leased from the Israel Land Administration (ILA). Public housing is built by private contractors on land marketed by the Ministry of Housing and Construction in cities such as Modi'in, Elad, and Maaleh Adumim, and in city neighborhoods such as Har Homa in Jerusalem.
47% of all new privately built apartments sold in January-July were in the Central District and 22% in the Tel Aviv District; in other words, two-thirds of new apartment sales were in metropolitan Tel Aviv. January-July new apartment sales rose 95% in the Jerusalem District compared with the corresponding period of last year, 27% in the Haifa District, 24% in the Central District, and 9.3% in the Southern District. Sales fell by 8% in both the Tel Aviv and Northern districts.
The greatest drop in sales was in Judea and Samaria: 163 new apartments were sold in January-July, 41.6% fewer than the 279 new apartments sold in the corresponding months of last year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 25, 2009
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