Ministry of Finance National Housing Directorate head Avigdor Yitzhaki sees home prices falling in 2018. He told Army Radio (Galei Tzahal), "In my opinion apartment prices will fall in 2018. I don't know by how much but they will fall. We've done a lot of things over the past three years and restored stability to the housing market."
He stressed that government initiatives including those of the National Housing Directorate will bring down prices even though this is not yet reflected in Central Bureau of Statistics data. Yitzhaki added that Central Bureau of Statistics figures showing a 2.9% rise in home prices in 2017 were "not reliable."
In the past Yitzhaki has said that he would resign if home prices had not fallen by 15% by the end of 2017. In response he said, "I still think that this will happen but it will take longer. Prices will fall. We have dramatically brought down the prices of apartments for young couples through the Buyers Price program and massively increased the supply will which lead to lower prices in the future. We have no control over how far prices will fall. Whatever is in the pipeline we market. I will actually be stepping down soon but not because of home prices."
Yitzhaki is expected to become chairman of the Mifal Hapayis national lottery and will probably leave the National Housing Directorate in March.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 31, 2017
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