Israel's housing market is supposed to be cooling off with a fall in prices in recent months. However, the latest mortgage taking figures suggest that a sustained fall in home prices may not be on the horizon. The latest figures from the Bank of Israel show that NIS 8.9 billion in mortgages were taken in January and February 2018, up 5% from the corresponding two months last year. Market sources say that with a few days left this month, $4.7 billion in new mortgages have been taken in March, also 5% more than last year, bringing the total of new mortgages taken in the first quarter of 2018 to NIS 13.6 billion. New mortgages in 2018 are still down from the record nearly NIS 15 billion taken in the first quarter of 2016. RELATED ARTICLES Are lower housing prices good news? Possibly not Housing prices continue falling, Feb CPI up 0.1% Home sales slow in 2017 There continues to be a slight rise in interest rates. Average fixed annual interest in February was 5.21% compared with 5% at the end of 2017. Although mortgage taking fell in 2017, compared with 2016, the banks' income rose because of rising interest rates. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 28, 2018 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2018
