Israel's Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.5% in January, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported this evening. The new homes price index fell 1.4%. This is a steeper fall in the CPI than analysts' expected.
The inflation rate for the twelve months to the end of January was 0.1%. There were notable falls in prices of clothing and footwear (8.8%) and fresh vegetables (2.8%). Fresh fruit prices rose 3.3%.
Regional home price indices
The Central Bureau of Statistics published a breakdown of the home price index by district for the first time today. The figures, for November-December 2017, show price falls in comparison with October-November 2017 in five of the six districts. They cover both new and secondhand home prices.
The steepest fall was in the Jerusalem district, 4.2%. Prices fell 2% in the Northern district, 0.3% in Haifa, 0.2% in Tel Aviv, and 1.3% in the Southern district.
The only district to show a rise was the Central district, where prices rose 0.5%.
It should be noted that these figures are subject to later revision, on the basis of further transactions for the period reported to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The national home prices index showed a fall of 0.7%, while the new homes price index fell 1.4%, after falling 0.5% the previous month. The indices include reduced price homes in the government Buyer Price program. The Central Bureau of Statistics states that reduced price homes accounted for 25.7% of the transactions covered by the new homes price index. This indicates the large effect of the program on the index, and that the 1.4% fall is not entirely representative of the rest of the market.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 15, 2018
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