According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics - the integration of the apartments into the free market with the price-per-dweller has removed the market from a standstill • A senior in the real estate industry: "It has been proven that most of the demand was and remains in the center cities"

• 1,000 apartments in 2019. Construction site in Beersheba // Photo: Dudu Grinshpan

The Central Bureau of Statistics reported a 41% jump in sales of new apartments in Israel in 2019 compared to 2018.

This is about 32,000 new apartments, out of total demand for apartments of more than 50,000 apartments. That is to say - even the high data does not meet the demand. In December, 3,612 new apartments were sold - 44% more than the volume sold in December 2018, and total demand in December increased by 28%. It should be noted that the CBS data do not separate apartments in the free market from those sold through government programs, most notably a price per dwelling.

More on:

• State in swing: How many apartments have been built in the last decade?

• Only from the nylon: a leap in selling new apartments throughout the country

• New apartment subsidy - artificial decline and not discounted

The figures show that close to 47% of apartment demand was in the Tel Aviv and Central districts. The volume of demand in Tel Aviv alone was 21.8% - three and a half times that of Jerusalem, where the demand rate was 6.7% in 2019. The Southern District accounts for 13.7% of demand, Haifa and the north 26% in almost equal distribution, and in Judea and Samaria 2.7%.

At the top of the list of localities in which 500 apartments were sold and more this past year stands the city of Ramat Gan with 1,583 apartments. After Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba, Harish and Yavne, where more than 1,000 apartments were sold in 2019. The proportion of apartments sold in relation to demand is highest in Central, Haifa and Tel Aviv districts - with more than 70%. In Jerusalem District, 62.5% of the apartments were sold in relation to demand.

"Get off the fence"

Northern District leads the list of districts at a rate of construction starts for non-for-sale apartments (self-use and home building) with 97%. In total there are about 4,200 apartments. In Tel Aviv the number is about 3,100. In the Southern District, this amounts to 55.5%, with a quarter of the dwellings being started as part of purchase groups. In the last three months of 2019, 13,250 apartments were sold - an increase of almost 10% compared to the previous three months (July-September), seasonally adjusted.

Market activists are calling on the government to increase supply. According to Roni Cohen, CEO of Elder Real Estate Marketing, "CBS data indicates that after three years of promises to lower housing prices, the promises were not realized. The young couples and housing enhancers got off the fence and returned to the market. It can also be said that the increase in the purchase of apartments in 2019 can be attributed to the fact that over the last year mixed price projects have ripened to the buyer, ie with at least 20% of the apartments marketed for the free market. These brought the housing enhancers back to the market and they made the purchases. In addition, if you look at the distribution of sales by cities, we see that most of the apartments were sold in the central area - Ramat Gan, Herzliya and Tel Aviv in the first three places. This, of course, proves again that most of the demand was and remains in the central region, so the state's focus on increasing inventory in the periphery is a mistake. "

Haim Masilati, chairman of the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, commented that "a price plan for the homeowner alone is unable to provide the supply in its current format, and evidence of this is the decline in housing stock. Therefore, improvements should be made to it, the first of which is the release of tenders into the free market, as well as the continued publication of tenders for eligible buyers. "