The number of new housing units sold by contractors in Israel fell in April, according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures published today. Contractors sold 2,504 new housing units in Israel in April, compared with 2,903 units in the preceding month, a 13.7% decrease, and 2,665 units in April 2015, a 6% decrease. The Passover holiday fell in April, and there were therefore fewer working days in the month, but the same was true last year, so the comparison is valid.
The figures also show a steep 49% fall in Haifa housing sales in April 2016: 298 housing units sold, compared with 572 in March 2016. Housing sales were also down 30% in the Jerusalem and southern districts, and 11.8% in the central district.
The April trend in the Tel Aviv and Judea and Samaria districts, however, was in the opposite direction. 551 housing new units were sold in the Tel Aviv district, compared with 368 in the preceding month, a 49.7% jump, and 88 new housing units were sold in Judea and Samaria in April, more than double the 43 sold in March. April housing sales in the northern district were virtually unchanged: an increase of only 0.5% over the preceding month.
It is too early to tell whether the buyer fixed price tenders are having an effect on sales by contractors in the various districts, but the figures indicate that in places in which there were no buyer fixed price tenders, such as the Tel Aviv and Judea and Samaria districts, the rate of new housing sales jumped, while declining elsewhere.
In districts in which the number of housing units sold dropped (the southern, Jerusalem, and Haifa districts), buyer fixed priced tenders were published, and this could have been the reason. The effect of the government plan can be assessed only in the long term.
A fall in the extent of buyers groups
The Central Bureau of Statistics also published figures for housing units not for sale, i.e. housing units built as part of buyers groups, rental projects, and hostels, as well as an estimate for illegal construction. These figures also showed a decrease in April 2016, compared with March 2016.
The Central Bureau of Statistics reported a drop in activity by buyers groups in January-April 2016: 570 building starts by buyers groups - one unit per each 19.1 units sold by contractors. In contrast, in the corresponding period last year, there were 610 building starts by buyers groups, one unit per each 17.3 units sold by contractors. Buyers groups began construction on 300 housing units in the Tel Aviv district - one unit per each 5.9 units sold by contractors.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 9, 2016
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