Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon today responded to the contradictory housing price figures reported by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the government appraiser.
While the housing price index published on Wednesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics cited a 0.3% drop in prices over the past two months, the government appraiser's figures published the next day reported a 2.5% rise in the second quarter of the year.
Kahlon said that the government appraiser had checked housing prices in 16 cities, while the Central Bureau of Statistics had used 63 cities, and that in any case, the Central Bureau of Statistics' figures were the ones that mattered. "This is a long-term measure, and the data are liable to be misleading in one direction or another," he said.
The minister of finance added, "The banks, the contractors, and extremely strong interest groups share a great concern about a change in the housing prices trend. We'll persist in our struggle. We'll bring foreign companies, we'll build, and we'll fight."
"In the end 100,000 young people will get housing. You can't argue with the facts," Kahlon concluded.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2016
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