Sales of new homes fell 12% in August 2009, compared with July, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. New home sales fell for the second consecutive month.
1,160 new homes were sold in August, down from 1,320 new homes in July. 1,100 of the new homes sold in August were still under construction, while construction of the other 60 had been completed during the past 15 months. Half of the new homes sold had been on the market for six months.
9,340 new homes were sold in January-August, down from 12,830 new homes sold in 2008 as a whole and 13,570 sold in 2007. The worst month in 2009 was February, with 870 new home sales. However, January-August new home sales were 9% higher than in the corresponding months of 2008.
New home sales in January-August were down 13.3% in the Tel Aviv district (22% of total sales) compared with the corresponding period of last year, but up 19.7% in the Central District (45% of total sales), 27% in the Haifa district, and up 89% in the Jerusalem district (9.1 of total sales each).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 24, 2009
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