Survey data conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics show that the average value of an apartment has doubled over the past decade, the most significant decline in the purchase of apartments: Among the middle class, and what is the rate of holders of three or more properties?

• The main decline in the purchase of apartments - among the middle class // Photo: Ami Shuman

Due to the steep rise in house prices, which have in fact doubled over the past decade, the percentage of people who live in apartments they own dropped to 66.5% in 2018, compared with 70.2% in 1997. Most of that decline was due to a decline in apartments purchased by families in the middle decile.

A look at the Central Bureau of Statistics data reveals two particularly surprising data - in the lower decile there was actually an increase in the percentage of people living in their dwellings, and the highest percentage of living in dwellings owned by households in peripheral localities (77.3%).

Alongside the doubling in house prices, between 2003-2018 there was a threefold increase in the percentage of households' ownership of two or more apartments (from 3.2% to 10.1%), with most of the increase being from 2008; Of the owners of two or more dwellings, 53,400 households (2% of the total household population) had three or more dwellings.

As mentioned, the percentage of people living in apartments they owned in 2008 was 66.5%, which is a significant drop compared to the data recorded two decades earlier. This figure is lower than the EU average (69.3%), and is ranked in the lower quarter compared to the other EU member states. In addition, the percentage of people living in rented apartments in 2018 was 28%, up from 24.3% recorded in 1997.

The data mentioned here is taken from the 2018 Household Expenditure Survey, which measures the material and economic standard of living of households in Israel from the perspective of expenditure, income, product ownership and the various housing data. The survey sample included 8,792 households, from 247 different localities.

The figures show that the average monthly rent in Israel in 2018 was NIS 3,307. Also, the average value of a privately owned apartment was NIS 1,833 million - three and a half times the value (at constant prices) in 1986-1987, which stood at only NIS 530,000.