Demand for new apartments in Israel fell in March 2010, for the second straight month, but sales rose and inventory fell, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today.
42.6% of privately built new apartments sold in March were in the Central District, 25% were in the Tel Aviv District, 6% were in the Jerusalem District, and 2% were in the Northern District. New apartment sales in the Tel Aviv District rose 27% in March, while sales in the Central District fell 1.5%, and sales in the Jerusalem District fell 40% to just 73 apartments.
Demand for new apartments fell 7.7% to 2,852 in March from 3,093 in February, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics survey of building starts and new home sales. The drop in demand was affected by a 6.8% increase in new apartment sales to 1,652 in March from 1,546 in February, and by a 22.3% drop in the number of apartments under construction, mostly by buyers groups, which are not available for sale.
New apartments inventory totaled 9,186 in March, 3.7% fewer than in February, after increasing by 0.2% compared with January.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 29, 2010
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