Globes-Homeless index: Home sellers not compromising

apartments, homes, real estate
apartments, homes, real estate

Home prices fell in none of the 15 regions examined in October.

Prices on the Homeless website indicate that sellers of secondhand homes in October were not lowering their prices in order to sell more quickly.

Home prices fell in none of the 15 regions examined, and for no types of homes. The asking price for homes rose in four regions for all types of homes: in Beer Sheva and the south, Ashdod-Ashkelon, Bat Yam-Holon, and Ramat Gan-Givatayim. The Central Bureau of Statistics published the sales figure for new homes in September, indicating that Israelis are again buying new homes. According to these figures, 2,006 new apartments were sold, the highest figure since February 2014. Investors and people moving to larger homes are almost certainly taking the place among the buyers of those without apartments who are sitting on the fence.

Two widely publicized government programs with an annual aggregate cost of NIS 1 billion are slated to get underway in the coming weeks. Minister of Finance Yair Lapid's 0% VAT plan will grant a VAT rebate to young couples purchasing their first new apartment from a contractor. At the same time, Minister of Housing Uri Ariel's "target price" tenders should start setting price ceilings for homes (20% below the market prices) on land to be marketed by the state.

It is clear to both ministers that their plans and the effect of those plans on home prices depend on their ability to affect the used home market. If home sellers do not feel a change in the market trend that will cause them to sell their homes at a discount, it is hard to see how a few subsidized new homes offered by the state can bring about the desired change.

Despite the absence of effect on the overall market, the negative sentiment in Modi'in continued in October. The huge tenders in the new Nofim neighborhood (1,850 apartments) will close this month, and more than a few quick-to-respond developers and organizers of buyers groups are already selling apartments "on paper" (before they have even obtained land) at especially low prices of just over NIS 1 million per new apartment, a development that is already generating pressure on apartment prices in the city.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 12, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014

apartments, homes, real estate
apartments, homes, real estate
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