Jerusalem Housing Market Grows
Jerusalem Housing Market Grows

The Central Bureau of Statistics released a report on Thursday indicating that demand for housing in Jerusalem has sharply increased.  In Haifa, too, new apartment sales are up. 

The rest of the country, however, is experiencing a sharp downslide in new apartment sales – an important indicator of the health of an economy.  The lack of sales is painful to the builders, who are already being squeezed by the banks’ lack of willingness to grant credit.

Only 880 new apartments were sold throughout the country in January – 20% fewer than in January 2008.  In Jerusalem, though, sales more than doubled - from 55 in January '08, to 121 in January of this year.  Sales in Haifa climbed much more moderately, from 91 to 102. 

The rest of the country saw sharp drops.  The central and Tel Aviv regions dropped by about a third, from over 800 in January ’08 to 546 this past month.  They remain, however, the most desirable areas of the country. Forty-one percent of the apartments sold this past January were in Petach Tikva, Herzliya, Raanana, Netanya and environs.

The Judea and Samaria areas remained fairly stable, with 15 new apartment sales this past January, one fewer than a year ago. Town leaders in Judea and Samaria say that were new houses to be built in their regions, they would be bought up.

The supply of unsold new apartments in the country is dropping, albeit slightly. At the end of January, there were 9,650 such residences, 2% lower than the month before.  No numbers were supplied for January ’08.