Recovery in housing sales continues

New apartments in Harish credit: Shlomi Yosef
New apartments in Harish credit: Shlomi Yosef

8,909 homes were sold in July 2024, up 29% from July 2023, according to the latest survey of the housing market by the Ministry of Finance chief economist.

8,909 homes were sold in July 2024, up 29% from July 2023, mainly due to special discount offers by building contractors, according to the latest survey of the housing market by the Ministry of Finance chief economist. The survey shows that the recovery in the market is continuing, although it should be noted that July 2023 was the lowest figure for home sales since the early 2000s. The July 2024 figure was 8% higher than June 2024. Subtracting the number of new homes sold in government subsidized programs, 8,126 homes were sold in July 2024.

The survey notes that historically comparing July 2024 to the number of housing deals in July throughout this century, July 2024 was ranked somewhere in the middle.

"This is a higher relative ranking than the one recorded in the previous two months, and this is mainly due to a relatively high level of new apartment sales," the survey stated.

The Beersheva region particularly stood out in the sales of the contractors, with 615 new apartments sold at an average price of NIS 1.7 million. "This is one of the highest levels of contractor sales in this area in the last 24 years, and more than a quarter of the apartments sold are in Netivot," the survey said.

It was also noted that more than half of the apartments in the Beersheva region were purchased by first time buyers. The salary levels for the household of these buyers average NIS 17,600 (gross per month, per household).

Purchases by investors in northern cities declined sharply

Purchases by investors totaled 1,390 apartments, up 36%, from the low level recorded in July last year. Compared with the preceding month, there was a moderate increase of 5%. About 16% of purchases were by investors in July 2024, which is up 0.6% from July 2023.

The leading cities for investor purchases in the first seven months of 2024 were Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. Growth rates of 58% and 78% were recorded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, respectively, while in Haifa there was a decrease of 7%. In Beit Shemesh, there was a sharp increase of 117% in purchases by investors, while northern cities stand out with sharp declines, in particular Kiryat Shmona and Safed.

The 20/80 promotions by contractors, in which the buyers purchase an apartment 'on paper', paying up to 20% at the time of signing and the balance when the apartment is ready for occupancy, stand out in the cash flow of companies. According to the survey, contractors' potential flow from the sale of new apartments in July was NIS 9.1 billion - 49% higher in real terms, than July last year. But from the analysis of the actual flow, based on VAT reports, it was found that it increased at a relatively moderate rate of 14%. "This reflects, among other things, the financing operations of the contractors," the survey says.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 12, 2024.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.

New apartments in Harish credit: Shlomi Yosef
New apartments in Harish credit: Shlomi Yosef
Unframe founders credit: Yossi Yarom Israeli AI enterprise platform co Unframe raises $50m

Unframe’s turnkey AI solutions enable companies to solve any enterprise AI use case at scale with fully functional, customized AI solutions for businesses in a matter of hours, rather than months.

Combatica credit: Combatica Combatica launches next-gen VR AI training platform

The Israeli company's virtual reality platform includes 50 AI generated scenarios, seven maps and even situations for operating night vision.

Shekel credit: Shutterstock Vladirina 32 Shekel volatility after US tariffs announcement

The shekel is weakening sharply against the euro, which is gaining following the unveiling of Donald Trump's tariffs plan.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Noam Moskovitz Knesset Spokesperson Treasury assesses potential damage to Israel's US exports

Israel will be charged a higher tariff on its exports to the US - its biggest export customer - than Turkey and the UAE.

Iranian flag credit: Shutterstock Why inflation haunts Iran

With a month-on-month increase of 3.3% and an annual rate of 37.1%, inflation reflects the struggles of millions of Iranians.

APM merges with lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman credit: Eyal Merilos APM merges with 12 lawyers from Doron, Tikotzky Kantor, Gutman

With the addition of these 12 lawyers, Amit Pollak Matalon & Co. will now have 135 lawyers.

US President Donald Trump credit: Reuters Sipa USA Israel on list as Trump unveils tariffs

Relatively low reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on Israeli goods sold in the US.

Deflated unicorn credit: Shutterstock Big Tech 50 reports more huge falls in startup valuations

Israeli R&D partnership Big Tech 50 reports that an investment of $2 million in Orcam made in 2021, shrank to just $31,000 at the end of 2024.

NextFerm technologies based on yeast credit: NextFerm Food-tech co NextFerm suspends operations

The company, which produces food ingredients in yeast without genetic engineering, cannot pay its debts and is seeking a buyer.

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich credit: Shlomi Yosef OECD sees recovery in growth but high inflation

The OECD Israel Economic Survey 2025 recommends that the Israeli government take several restraining measures, in order to exit the economic storm created by the war.

Dano Ben-Hur credit: Dror Sithakol Statisticians contradict BoI on impact of housing finance deals

The Central Bureau of Statistics insists the impact of 20/80 buy now pay later financing deals on the real estate market and housing prices is minimal.

Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron  credit: Government Press Office Debt fears top Bank of Israel's concerns

Most unusually, Governor of the Bank of Israel Amir Yaron's press conference last week did not focus on inflation and the impending interest rate decision.

US President Donald Trump  credit: Reuters/Leah Millis Israel moves to avoid Trump's tariffs axe

Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order canceling all tariffs on imports from the US. The impact will mostly be on agricultural produce.

Forbes Rich List credit: Shutterstock Maslowski Marcin Wiz founders ranked in Forbes 2025 Rich List

There are a few dozen Israelis listed in the 2025 Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List including Wiz founders Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik and Ami Luttwak.

SatixFy CEO Nir Barkan credit: Ariel Barkan Canada's MDA Space to buy Israeli satcom co SatixFy

MDA Space will pay $269 million for the Israeli company, including taking on a $76 million debt and a 75% premium on SatixFy's closing price on Nasdaq yesterday.

Raising dollars credit: Shutterstock Israeli startups raised over $1b in March

Israeli privately-held tech companies have raised $2.1 billion in the first three months of 2025, according to IVC-LeumiTech, up 24% from the corresponding quarter of 2024.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018