The Marker, Gili Melnicki, 09.07.2020
Momentary relief or a return to routine? This morning, regions ( -2.54% 594.5 ) reported a 40% jump in the number of apartments sold in the second quarter of 2020, compared to the first quarter, where only 153 apartments were sold. Although it is not yet back to routine sales, Gil Gurevich, VP of Marketing and Sales of Regions, says: "There has been a marked recovery in the market since the closure, despite the economic uncertainty that characterizes large parts of the economy. Investors who withdraw money from the capital market understand that investment in real estate is a very stable and secure channel, and reach the sales offices. "
The company announced Thursday that it has sold 210 housing units for about NIS 347 million in three months (until June 30). By month breakdown, it can be seen that of the total housing units sold in the second quarter of 2020, during April six housing units were sold, while in May and June 204 units were sold.
Meanwhile, Aura ( -1.33% 104 ) in the last few days also published the sales figures for the first two quarters of 2020. The company sold 164 apartments from the beginning of the year until June 30, and in the same period in 2019 sold 170 apartments.
The Africa Israel Residential Company ( -0.16 % 8956 ) , which sold only 52 apartments during the first quarter of this year, 22 of which were under a per-user price, embarked on a "thoughtful mortgage" operation. The operation lasted 45 days - from the end of May to the beginning of July - and the company reported this week the marketing of 110 new apartments, totaling NIS 235 million, of which 11 are for the price of the buyer. As part of the operation, 52 contracts have already been signed, signaling recovery in the first quarter, which was affected by the closure and traffic restrictions.
Real estate company Parshkovsky ( -0.5% 4532 ) is also encouraging and reporting on performance improvement in June. CEO of Parshkovsky, "Only in June the company sold 42 new apartments, while in May the company reported selling 17 apartments and in April only selling six apartments."
According to Roni Cohen, CEO of Elder, which is engaged in marketing and sales to real estate companies, in June there was a 30% jump in apartment purchases compared to May, based on sales data of about 90 projects nationwide. The data refers only to dwellings sold in the free market, and not to dwellings sold at a cost to the buyer.
He said sales in June are nearing pre-crisis levels. "The Corona has seized the real estate industry at a good time with high demand. Although there were almost no sales in April due to the combination of the closure and Passover, immediately after the holiday, traffic returned to the sites and began to sign deals. We expect the trend to increase in deals to continue in July. "
The optimistic estimates are based on a scenario in which no further aggravation will occur and no restrictions on movement will be restored. It also seems that without a stable economic plan for the economy, the real estate industry will also find it difficult to recover. Young couples who realized that a price plan for their dwellers weredeclining and decided to move out of the fence, and investors who left the stock exchange and decided to buy residential apartments in Israel, rather than investing in offices or trading.