"The real estate market will be weak, but there's a shortage of housing starts. The inventory of apartments under construction is small, and there'll be a shortage of housing within a few months. Developers won't begin to build unless market prices are greater than construction costs, giving them a profit," said Azorim Investment, Development and Construction Ltd. (TASE: AZRM) CEO Mati Dov.
Azorim published its financial report for the third quarter on Sunday. The company said that it met its sales target in Israel, with 632 apartment sales in January-September.
"Globes": Are you worried that many buyers are waiting for prices to fall?
Dov: "Most of our projects are for late delivery. The market will get smarter and understand that apartment prices won't fall drastically, and buyers will return in a few months. The rate will obviously be slower, because there will be fewer people who can afford to buy, but all in all, people will continue to buy apartments. There's a whole population, the entire middle class, which has been less affected by the crisis, and if they need an apartment, they'll buy."
What about India?
"We're moving our Indian management to Poland, and keeping only the bookkeeping there, so our involvement in India will be less. 20% of the apartments in our project in Faridabad have already been sold."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 2, 2008
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