The report of the Central Bureau of Statistics published today (Sunday) reveals optimistic data for young couples in Israel who wish to live in the Tel Aviv and Central region: despite the sharp increase in the sale of new apartments from contractors in the last three months, it appears that the excess supply of the unsold new apartments remaining in the hands of contractors in the Tel Aviv and Central regions Extremely high, and constitutes over 55% of all non-addicted apartments throughout the country.
According to the report, at the end of February 2024, the inventory of new apartments remaining for sale across the country was about 66,930 apartments, and the number of months of supply (the number of months that will pass until all the apartments remaining for sale are sold) was 19.7 months. For comparison, before the first interest rate increase in April 2022, the stock of apartments owned by contractors stood at 43,927 - and has since shown an increase of over 50% in just two years.
The interesting statistic is that approximately 31% of the apartments remaining for sale are in the Tel Aviv district (20,680 apartments) and 24.3% in the Central district (16,300 apartments). This means that more than half of all unsold apartments throughout the country, about 37 thousand apartments, are in the areas of greatest demand: Tel Aviv and the center.
In terms of cities, it is precisely Tel Aviv that is in demand that stands out at the top of the list with 8,023 unsold new apartments remaining in the hands of contractors; Jerusalem follows by a large margin with 5,685 unsold apartments; Netanya third with 3,452 apartments and Bat Yam fourth with 3,170 new apartments.
At the bottom of the list of cities, the cities of Kfar Saba, Herzliya and Hadra stand out with a dwindling supply of new and non-addicted apartments left by contractors, these are a few hundreds. Holon, Rehovot and Haifa are also at the bottom of the list with a low supply of new apartments.
And yet, the number of new apartments being sold is breaking records
The CBS report confirms the data of the Chief Economist at the Treasury published last week, and presented the continuation of the recovery trend in the number of transactions in general, and in the new apartment sector in particular, after the depression in the first two months of the Iron Swords War.
According to the CBS report, in the three months December 2023-February 2024 About 21,580 apartments were sold, an increase of 10.6% compared to the corresponding period last year (December 2022-February 2023) and 83.4% compared to the previous three months (September-November 2023).
47.5% of the total apartments sold are new apartments, about 10,260 apartments, about a quarter (24.1%) of which were sold with government subsidies. Compared to the same period last year, an increase of 30.0% was observed in the new apartments sold and 112.7% compared to the previous three months. According to the report of the Chief Economist at the Treasury, the volume of contractor sales last February is one of the highest recorded in the last 20 years.
52.5% of the total apartments sold in the three months December 2023-February 2024 are second-hand apartments, approximately 11,320 apartments. In second-hand apartments, a decrease of 2.6% was observed compared to the same period last year and an increase of 63.1% compared to the previous three months September-November 2023.
Also, last February 7,490 apartments were sold, an increase of 25.7% compared to the month of February 2023. Compared to the previous month (January 2024 ) recorded a decrease of 7.4%, however, excluding seasonality, the trend is the opposite - an increase of 2.1%.
Examining the trend data shows that from September 2021 to July 2023 there was an average decrease of 3.3% in the number of apartments sold. On the other hand, from August 2023 until now, an average increase of 3.0% was recorded in the total number of apartments sold.
In terms of the trend of the total number of new apartments sold, it appears that from September 2021 to June 2023 an average decrease of 3.3% was observed, while from July 2023 until now an increase of 3.8% was observed.
A similar trend was also recorded in a series of second-hand apartments that were sold, from September 2021 to September 2023 there was a decrease at the same rate (3.3%), and from October to February 2024 - an average increase of 2.6% per month.
In terms of geographic data, the center district leads with 26.9% of the total apartments sold in the three months December 2023-February 2024. In this district, almost a third of the new apartments (30.3%) and about a quarter of the total second-hand apartments (23.7%) were sold. It is followed by the southern district with 21.5% of the total apartments sold: 22.5% of the new apartments and 20.5% of the total second-hand apartments.
Ashdod and Jerusalem lead in the number of new apartments sold in the three months December 2023-February 2024 with more than 550 apartments. Haifa, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva lead the way in second-hand apartments sold during that period with more than 700 apartments.