Figures published by the Madas classified ad site reveal that demand for rental apartments slowed in the first half of 2008. The largest of all the increases in apartment rentals were in the Ramat Gan-Givatayim area, where rents for two-room and three-room apartments rose by 9% in the first half of 2008, compared with the second half of 2007. The increases were reportedly due to an influx of people leaving Tel Aviv because of the high rentals there.
Apartment rentals in Tel Aviv rose only slightly. The rent for a three-room apartment in South Tel Aviv rose by 3% (from NIS 2,764 to NIS 2,860 a month). The average rent in central Tel Aviv was almost unchanged (up from NIS 4,168 to NIS 4,183), and in North Tel Aviv rentals rose by 2% only (from NIS 4,469 to NIS 4,554).
One item of special interest is the time it takes apartment owners to find tenants. In 2007, people snapped up apartments at any price, but by June 2008 it was taking apartment owners longer to find tenants. In January, the average time it took to find a tenant from the moment a property was advertised was a day and a half, and by June this had lengthened to six days on average, four times what it was at the beginning of the year.
In other cities, demand rose. The time taken to find a tenant for an apartment in the Ramat Gan-Givatayim area, fell from eight days in January to seven days in June; in Beersheva, the time fell from 13 to 11 days, in Jerusalem from nine to six days, and in Haifa from 17 to 15 days.
Figures obtained by "Globes" reveal that apartment sales also slowed in Tel Aviv, while demand in other regions was erratic. Geocartography Knowledge co-CEO Dr. Rina Degani said, "Demand for apartments is expected to slow by 10% in July, compared with June. Despite the noise created by the wholesale market site, demand in Tel Aviv will fall in the coming month, partly as a result of the steep increases that have characterized the market in Tel Aviv over recent months."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 3, 2008
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008