Israel home prices up

Israel's 16 biggest cities saw home prices rise 1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2012.
Data released by the Government Assessors Office also showed a 1.9% increase from the first quarter of this year.

As inflation ran at 0.4% in Q2, home prices adjusted for inflation would be still higher.
The price of a four-room home in Tel Aviv jumped 6% in April through June compared with the previous quarter, rising to NIS 2.4 million ($0.6 million) on average, according to the state assessor.

Meanwhile, home sales in pricier northern and central areas fell, the figures show.
Chief Government Assessor Tal Alderoti said that the rising level of home purchases and new mortgages pointed to a demand-driven market, reported Haaretz. The housing market had been weighed down at the end of last year by the summer's social justice protests, uncertainty about the global economy and steps by the Bank of Israel to discourage home lending.

"It appears that pent-up demand that accumulated over the past year was unleashed in the last quarter," Alderoti said. "Among other things, the government's decisions via-a-vis the Trajtenberg committee on housing reduced the level of uncertainty."

The assessor added there has been no significant change in the unsold inventory of new homes, which stood at the end of April at 20,665 units.

Source: www.opp-connect.com