The Central Bureau of Statistics advisory committee today presented its new housing prices index, which will be published together with the existing housing prices index. Up until now, the index has referred only to changes in housing prices at the national level, while the new index refers to each district separately, except for Judea and Samaria, due to the volatility there.
The result will be a more accurate picture of changes in housing prices at the monthly level in each district. This index refers to both new and secondhand housing units sold in the market, including discount apartments in the framework of the buyer fixed price plan. The weight of the buyer fixed price plan in the index differs from the weight of ordinary deals, depending on its weight in the market when the index is compiled. These are some of the advisory committee's recommendations for improving housing price figures.
According to the figures presented in the press briefing for the district housing index data, it appears that the trend in the changes in prices when the most recent index was published (October-November 2017) was mixed. While the national index showed a 0.3% drop, the district figures show a more substantial decrease than the nationwide decline in four districts.
Housing prices were down 1.3% in the Jerusalem and northern districts, 1.5% in the southern district, and 0.8% in the Tel Aviv district, while rising by 0.6% in the Haifa district and 0.8% in the central district. This is the first time that price figures have been specified according to district, and the emerging picture is slightly different from the national index. The district index will be published in the framework of the monthly index, starting with the upcoming monthly index.
In addition to the district housing prices index, it was revealed that the Central Bureau of Statistics will begin publishing new data soon about indices reflecting a change in housing prices: a monthly index according to districts for six districts in Israel, a price index for large urban communities, and a quarterly index for changes in housing prices in Ashdod, Beer Sheva, Haifa, Jerusalem, Netanya, Petah Tikva, Rishon Lezion, and Tel Aviv. These cities have large enough populations for taking a sufficiently large sample of deals. Other new publications will be an index exclusively for new homes (including buyer fixed price homes) and an index for secondhand homes excluding quality - also split into different districts.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on January 24, 2018
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