Will contractors lower prices? The supply of apartments in the center continues to expand / Reuven Castro
The record continues to be broken: as of the end of November 2023, the number of new homes remaining for sale stood at 63,580, about 1,400 more than in the previous October. This is according to data published today by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Last month, we published that the supply of unsold homes held by contractors broke a multi-year record at the end of October, reaching 62,150 apartments. In comparison, before the first interest rate increase, in April 2022, the stock of homes held by contractors stood at 43,927, and has since risen by about 45% in just a year and a half.
In addition, it is interesting to note that more than half of the apartments owned by contractors in November were concentrated in the Tel Aviv (30.5%) and Central (25.2%) districts. The remaining apartments are concentrated in the Southern District (15.5%), Jerusalem (10.9%), Haifa (7.7%), North (6.2%), and Judea and Samaria (3.8%).
Downward trend since August 2021
The Central Bureau of Statistics report also shows that in the three months September-November 2023, 4,760 new homes were sold, a decrease of 45.4% compared to the previous three months, June-August 2023 (8,720). On a seasonally adjusted basis, this figure is about 5,460 homes, a more moderate decline of 31.5 percent compared with the preceding three months (7,980).
It should also be noted that 1,480 new homes were sold in November, an increase of 52.8% compared to the previous October, when the "Iron Swords" war broke out. On a seasonally adjusted basis, this figure stands at about 1,560 homes, an increase of 21.3 percent compared with October 2023. Compared to the same month last year (November 2022), this represents a decline of 51.5 percent, and a more moderate decline of 43.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis.
An examination of trend data shows that from August 2021 to February 2023, there was a decline of 3.7% on average per month. In contrast, from March 2023 to September 2023, there was an increase of 2.5% on average per month.
Localities where the most homes were sold in September-November 2023 compared to June-August 2023/CBS
In terms of localities, the report shows that in the three months September-November 2023, the highest percentage of new homes sold was in the Central District - 23.1% and in the Southern District - 20.2%.
Jerusalem tops the list of localities with the highest number of homes sold in the three months September-November 2023 (526 apartments), followed by Ashdod (291), Ashkelon (234) and Tel Aviv-Yafo (214).
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