Israel’s mortgages market jumped significantly last month as homebuyers took mortgages totaling NIS 9.065 billion in July, the Bank of Israel reports. This was the highest mortgage taking figure since the fourth quarter of 2022. No breakdown of the figures was given but the market has clearly been influenced by the attractive offers from building and development companies on new apartments under construction.
In the first seven months of 2024, mortgages worth NIS 45 billion were taken, 4% more than in the corresponding period of 2023, although 40% down on the first seven months of 2022.
An estimated NIS 1.50 billion in mortgages was given in July on 20-80 deals, in which buyers put down 20% on a new apartment and pay the balance when construction of the new apartment is completed. This is double the amount of such mortgages taken in January.
The Bank of Israel has warned on this option on concerns that buyers will not be able to meet payments to the development companies but the offers continue, mainly due to the large numbers of new apartments in their possession that they would find difficult to otherwise sell. At the end of June, building and development companies had 67,000 such apartments, 12.5% of them in Tel Aviv.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 14, 2024.
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