New-home sales up 17% in April

New-home sales rose 17 percent in April, compared with March, snapping a three-month slump, Central Bureau of Statistics reported.

By EINAT PAZ-FRANKEL
New-home sales rose 17 percent in April, compared with March, snapping a three-month slump, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday. New-home sales rose to 1,868 homes in April from 1,438 in March, despite the Passover holiday.
New-home sales were unchanged compared with April 2011.
The largest increase in new-home sales in April was in the Tel Aviv area, where they doubled from March to 291 homes. New-home sales rose 77% in the Jerusalem area, 17% in the North and 11% in the South. New-home sales were unchanged at 660 in the central region and fell 20% in the Haifa area.
Seventy-four percent of new-home sales in the January- April period were in the central region. New-home sales in the Tel Aviv area were down 29% in January- April compared with the corresponding months of 2011, fell 16% in the Haifa area and rose 42% in the Jerusalem area.
Demand for new homes rose 15% in April, compared with March, to 3,014 homes, but was down 6% compared with April last year.
The housing inventory rose 35% in April to 20,653 homes; 45% of the inventory is in the central region, and 4% is in the North. The housing inventory is sufficient for 13 months at the average rate of sales over the preceding three months.