"Home price fall is temporary"

DS macroeconomist Alex Zabezhinsky: The stock of apartments that is expected to become available will not be able to fully satisfy potential demand.

2 January 12 13:04, Guy Katsovich

DS Securities & Investments (TASE: DSIN) is not overly excited about Central Bureau of Statistics data that show a rise in real estate sales and demand for November. They note that these data do not show a change in the housing market trend, and claim that housing prices will fall in the upcoming year.

"There was slight improvement in the real estate market in November, following the fall the previous month, which was apparently due to the holidays," says DS macroeconomist Alex Zabezhinsky. Zabezhinsky also says that despite the rise in the number of apartments sold and mortgages taken, the increased supply should ultimately bring prices down.

"As we stressed a number of times in previous surveys, we predict a fall in housing prices in the upcoming year. The rate of decline will depend to some extent on the degree of slowdown in economic activity," Zabezhinsky says. However, DS states that the entire stock of apartments that is expected to become available will not be able to fully satisfy potential demand, and there will therefore be no permanent fall in real estate prices over time.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 2, 2012

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