When housing prices are at their peak, founder and owner of Meitav Investment House Zvi Stepak, estimates that prices can only go down from here.
At the real estate summit event taking place in Eilat on the initiative of the Real Estate Center, there was sharp criticism from senior officials in the Israeli economy against the government and its plans to fight housing prices. Stepak, who also discussed the issue of rising interest rates and skyrocketing housing prices, made several suggestions, what to do today with a million shekels in your pocket, where should you invest And is it worth buying an apartment in Israel?
"I wouldn't buy an apartment today, nor construction companies. I don't invest, because apartment prices have increased by 150% in a period of 15 years and the market expects the profitability of these companies to shrink. Y.H. Demari, for example, one of the largest contractors that came out at the beginning 2005 to the stock market with an investment of one million shekels, this year it fell by about 20% in the stock market, and it is still worth 18 million shekels today. We understand then that the stock market is still winning. In my estimation, if you measure two years from today, apartment prices will fall, and so will the value of companies real estate".
"It is impossible to disconnect from what is happening in the world. In the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain - in all these places housing prices are falling.
A central part of the economy is affected by global trends, so in Israel there are mitigating conditions related to demographics, a high divorce rate, there are characteristics of the Israeli economy that reinforce the assumption that the decline should not be as sharp as the US, but in my estimation it will occur. The reason it takes longer with us is because our interest rates They came later and this is an economic process that takes time. Second, the Israeli economy is growing, it is at a better point than the Canadian, American or New Zealand economy and now they are working to slow down the rate of growth. This is one of the goals knowingly."
Eli Elezra in a one-on-one conversation with Ofer Petersburg.
Photo: Roi Teper, Photo: Roi Teper
Despite these things, the expected declines in housing prices and the capital market, Stepak does not see a situation of falling companies.
"I don't see companies collapsing because they have accumulated fat. They have land stock, most or some of it was bought at low prices, in the worst case the companies will realize assets and repay debts. At the same time, you have to be careful of leveraged companies. A leveraged company is good on the rise but bad on the decline, so it can collapse".
When Stepak was asked how he sees the future of Israel in about 20 years, he replied: "Those who live here must be optimistic. There are many omissions in public service, in infrastructures that are lagging behind at a third world level, there is a problem of coordination between government ministries, where in my opinion the Ministry of Housing And the transportation should be, to one of the ministries, there is a climate crisis that is not being addressed at all in Israel. Besides, Israel will soon be 75 years old, and we have made great achievements in the hope that we will continue in this line."
Eli Al-Ezra, the businessman who owns the company 'El-Ezra Holdings' which controls the construction company "Afridar", the leasing company "Albar", and the insurance company "Hashara Hebra Lavituh", sharply criticized at the real estate summit in Eilat, the state's handling of the increase in housing prices that reached a peak with a 19% increase in the last year. "93% percent of the country's land is owned by the state.
The state has a full monopoly on the land and the entire production chain on the way to building an apartment, therefore it has sole responsibility for the dilapidated situation and unfortunately the state is not doing what is needed.
In recent years, a casino has sprung up in the State of Israel, the state has practically banned lottery tickets worth a million shekels.
Of course, this is about someone who won a target price or a price for a tenant.
The one who won has it and he earned over a million shekels, the one who didn't win, lost.
This is a social distortion that needs to be stopped immediately.
We need to promote distributive justice that will provide a real solution.
These plans are invalid from the ground up."
Businessman Eli Al-Ezra, Eilat Real Estate Summit event. Photo: Roi Teper,
Al-Ezra claims that the urban renewal plans are also causing substantial damage to the peripheral cities: "The urban renewal plans embody in their content a distinct lack of social justice. It helps the powerful and weakens the weak. It is not worthwhile in Yeruham, Sderot and Kiryat Shmona, so what is the state actually doing here? There are many in Israel Land is available and we have the human and professional material to build in these areas in a very good way. We need to start producing - and reach an equilibrium. Do not lower the prices, but increase the supply. If, God forbid, apartment prices fall, the Israeli middle class will be seriously harmed. The right thing is to preserve them under equal weight".
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