Home prices have more than doubled in the past decade, but the rate of home ownership in Israel has hardly changed. Two thirds of Israeli households live in a home owned by a least one household member or by relatives, while 31% live in rented accommodation, and 2% live in accommodation in some other kind of ownership (an employer's apartment, a friend's apartment, kibbutz housing, and so on). The figures are from a survey households' physical assets, part of a long-term survey for 2018-2019 published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The long-term survey covers a fixed sample of households representing Israel's permanent population. It has been carried out continuously since 2012, and is a joint project of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Bank of Israel, the National Insurance Institute, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education. Once every two years the financial conduct of households and their physical assets are extensively researched, and the latest results were published today.
As mentioned, 67% of households in Israel are owner occupiers. There is, however, a difference between households numbering several people, and single individuals and young couples. 68% of couples with children where the youngest child is under 18 live in their own homes, while 29% live in rented homes.
The proportion of Arab households living in homes they own in the Haifa and northern districts (90%) and in the Tel Aviv and central districts (89%) is higher than the proportion of Jewish households in those districts that are owner occupiers (66% and 64% respectively).
What kinds of homes do Israelis live in? 67% live in apartments in multi-occupancy buildings; 9% live in top-floor apartments with access to the roof, garden apartments, or duplexes; 13% live in detached or semi-detached private houses; and 11% live in two-family houses or terraced houses.
Another, unsurprising finding is that owner-occupied homes are larger than rented homes. 67% of owner-occupier homes have four rooms or more, while 62% of rented homes have 2-3 rooms.
The survey also finds that, on average, households estimate the value of their homes at 0.9% less than the objective value: NIS 2.05 million estimated for an average home versus a NIS 2.09 million average objective valuation. This is an interesting finding, because homeowners have traditionally tended to overestimate the value of their homes. This is apparently further evidence of the rapidity of the price rises in the housing market in recent years.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 29, 2021.
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