Israelis' expenses jumped by an average of NIS 3,000 each month in 2021, compared with 2020, according to a joint survey of the MyFinanda app and the first digital bank, which is based on data from about 2,000 users.
The main expenses incurred by a household, which include rent or mortgage, averaged NIS 14,182 per month in 2021. This is a jump of 26% compared to NIS 11,242 per month in 2020. For apartment owners, the mortgage rose by an average of 16% and stood at a monthly repayment of NIS 4,422. The increase in mortgage repayments was due to the rise in house prices, which rose by about 10% in 2021.
This, combined with a postponement of the monthly repayments received by many households in 2020. For tenants, rents rose by 4.6% and averaged NIS 4,184.
The main expenditure after housing expenses was on food, with an amount of NIS 2,109 per month - an increase of 8.5%, which was partly due to the increase in the shopping basket. Another significant expense was on flights. In 2021, Israelis spent an average of NIS 1,570 a month on flights abroad, and a total of about NIS 18,840 a year.
Other areas in which there was a large increase in spending were fitness, with a jump of 56%; pubs and cafes, with a 31% increase; and concerts, with an increase of 42%; clothing, with an increase of 30%, fuel costs, with an increase of 28%; and furniture expenses, with an increase of 30%.
According to Eric Tz'ikotai, Vice President of banking and operation of the first digital Bank: "2021 is a kind of mirror image. Households have sought to compensate for a long period of closures. The disturbing figure is that 50% of households in Israel are in the red at least once a year, and one in five families is in the chronic red.
"Studies we conducted at the digital bank show that half of the households that go into the red do not have to be in the red at all, they just do not manage the cash flow correctly."
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