The Ministry of Construction and Housing openly declares: "Housing price indices indicate a continuing upward trend in prices."
They could just say: We failed
The real change in apartment prices and rents Data: CBS
Photo:
Graph design: Ministry of Construction and Housing
Produced by the Department of Special Supplements
Will prices fall or rise in the coming year - this question is asked by many in the country.
The answer can only come from government officials.
Those who are responsible for the supply of apartments and navigate the demand are not the contractors or developers, but mainly the Israel Land Authority, which controls 93% of the state's land.
What is surprising is that the chief speculator, in charge of the lands of the State of Israel, also becomes the forecaster.
The Economic Division of the Ministry of Construction and Housing publishes without hesitation: "Housing price indices, both general, new housing price index and district index, indicate a continuing upward trend in prices, despite the corona crisis. This is a result of the increase in demand for residential apartments, along with the slowdown in volume Construction starts. '
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Whoever talks about rising prices is the one who is responsible for lowering them.
In other words, it becomes clear to us once again that the state does not really want to lower prices.
Anyone who asks himself whether to invest in real estate today or wait, just needs to hear what those officials, who were supposed to be watching over us, say.
Truth be told, depression.
The only one who dared to tell the truth in the past was the Minister of Housing, Yoav Galant, who got on his head from Moshe Kahlon for saying that housing prices would not fall.
And he was right.
Apparently he, too, knew what the Ministry of Housing was now openly telling us: "We have failed."
What does the Ministry of Housing actually tell us, perhaps with great courage, that there is nothing like telling the truth: "According to CBS data, the inventory of new apartments for sale has decreased over the past year by 22%, from about 49,200 apartments in January to about 38,400 in December. .
Respectively, the number of supply months (number of sales months for which this inventory will suffice according to the average monthly sales in the last three months) of these dwellings decreased, from a level of 17.5 supply months on average in 2019 to 10.1 in December 2020.
"This indication reflects the declining trend in the volume of construction we have been warning about over the past year. The continued decline in the volume of construction starts will lead to a continuous reduction in the inventory of new dwellings for sale and may make a significant contribution to price increases."
On the issue of rent, the Ministry of Housing is not optimistic, although it is beginning to feel declining: "Despite the impression created at the beginning of the Corona crisis that many tenants (especially singles) in the central region end their leases and move to the periphery - which creates a feeling that rents fall. The quarterly apartment carried out by the CBS shows that this effect occurred late.
"In the second and third quarters of 2020, the upward trend continued, beginning in 2019, although at a slower pace than in previous quarters, but declining in the fourth quarter. It can be seen that in all districts rent in the fourth quarter of 2020 is higher than in 2019, especially in Tel Aviv. It should be noted that in the Jerusalem district the rate of increase is the lowest (0.6%), and on the other hand in the districts of North and Tel Aviv the rate of increase is the highest (3.4%).
"Indeed, rental prices continued to rise even during the Corona crisis. It is very likely that the downward trend in the purchase of apartments for investment in 2019-2016 contributed to this. However, according to the rent index, in the last quarter of the year there was a decrease compared to the third quarter."
So what is the conclusion?
Supply and demand, as always.
There seems to be no state or government to lean on.
Produced by the Department of Special Supplements
