Israeli new home sales decline continues

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new apartments

Sales were 7% lower than in January and 18% lower than in February 2017.

1,622 new housing units were sold in Israel in February 2018, 7% lower than the 1,747 sold in January 2018, 10% lower than the 1,808 sold in December 2017, and 18% lower than the 1,978 sold in February 2017, according to figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics today on the demand for new homes. There were 22,855 housing units for sale in February, down slightly from 23,246 in January. This figure, which the Central Bureau of Statistics resumed reporting this year after a one-year gap, is downwardly biased, because it includes only privately initiated construction, while excluding publicly initiated housing. The number of homes for sale by contractors is therefore probably higher.

Another important point that should be taken into account involving the inventory of unsold housing units is the Central Bureau of Statistics' retroactively revised figures. It appears that the Central Bureau of Statistics regularly upwardly revises its initial figure for the number of unsold housing units. The initial figure for January 2018 was 22,838, but this was upwardly revised today to 23,246, an addition of 408 new housing units to the inventory, and the figures published today will probably also be revised.

According to district, the number of new homes sold fell in the northern, central, Haifa, and Judea and Samaria districts, compared with the corresponding month in 2017, while the number sold in the Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and southern districts increased.

In three-month periods calculated by the Central Bureau of Statistics, 5,180 new homes were sold in December 2017-February 2018, 2.9% more than in September-November 2017. In seasonally adjusted figures, however, the number of new homes sold was down 7.8%. The Central Bureau of Statistics also reported that the number of new homes sold fell 20.4% in March 2017-February 2018, compared with March 2016-February 2017.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 23, 2018

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018

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