May 30, 2021

Home sales soar as investors flock to market

Globes, Arik Mirovsky, 30.05.2021

13,200 homes were sold in Israel in March 2021, according to the Ministry of Finance Chief Economist, up 38% from March 2020 and up 26% from February 2021.

The rise in home buying was led by investors who bought 2,500 apartments in March 2021, up 114% from March 2020 and up 17% from February 2021. 6,600 young couples bought homes in March 2021, the largest number of first time buyers since 2017.

Investors have been returning to the real estate market after the government lifted the purchase surtax last July, which was imposed in 2015 by then Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon, for homebuyers who already own homes purchasing additional properties.

The latest report by the Ministry of Finance Chief Economist examines who are the people investing in more than one Israeli home. The examination found that 14% of those investing in an additional property were company owners, 9% were pensioners, and 20% were receiving a pension but continuing to work in a salaried job (such as retired army and police officers). 69% of the investors were couples in which at least one of the couple had a salaried job, while 22% of the investors in which at least one of the couple was self-employed, and in most cases the second was a salaried employee.

The 14% of those buying homes for investment who were company owners had an average gross monthly income of NIS 129,000 per month while the pensions (including those still working) had an average gross monthly income of NIS 64,000 and the self-employed had an average gross monthly income of NIS 57,400, while the salaried employees had an average gross monthly income of NIS 46,600. The pensioners, who had no other income, had an average monthly income of NIS 27,500.

38% of investors in real estate in March worked in the public sector - in other words most of the salaried employees. Surprisingly only 9% of buyers in Israel investing in an apartment in March worked in high-tech.

51% of investors in March live in Tel Aviv and central Israel, 21% in the north and south, 22% in the Haifa district and only 6% in Jerusalem.

The average price of an apartment bought by an investor in march in the Tel Aviv District was NIS 1.84 million, in the Central Region NIS 1.81 million, in Judea and Samaria NIS 1.36 million, in Jerusalem NIS 1.3 million, in the south NIS 1.28 million, in Haifa NIS 1.24 million and in the north NIS 1.09 million.

The average age of investors was 52 and only 25% of investors were younger than 42, the Chief Economist of the Ministry of Finance found.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 30, 2021