New-home sales up 44% in November

Numbers up significantly from October, but down from November 2010.

By EINAT PAZ-FRANKEL/GLOBES
Hillside homes of Yemin Moshe 311 (photo credit: Lyle Plocher )
Hillside homes of Yemin Moshe 311
(photo credit: Lyle Plocher )
Contractors’ discounts appear to have drawn Israelis back to the real-estate market.
New-home sales in November 2011 were up 44 percent from those in October, although they were down 28% compared with November 2010, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Sukkot was in October this year, reducing the number of business days during the month. The 1,420 new homes sold in November were 7% above the number sold in September, before Rosh Hashana.
New-home sales in Jerusalem more than doubled to 244 in November from 97 in October.
The increase in sales in the South was about the same.
New-home sales rose 40% in the Central District to 640 apartments in November.
Housing demand, which includes homes sold and homes not for sale (build-yourown- home projects, buyers groups, etc.), was 4% higher in November than in October.
“The figures confirm contractors’ reports that home buyers are coming off the fence.” Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel president Nissim Bublil said, adding, “The need for homes exists, and demand cannot be halted by artificial means, especially when home prices are rising.”
Despite the increase in sales, the inventory of new homes continued to grow, reaching 19,292 at the end of November, up from 19,000 at the end of October and 29% more than in the corresponding month of last year, the statistics bureau reported Wednesday.
Forty-two percent of the housing inventory is in the Central District, 20% is in the South, 13% is in the Tel Aviv area, 11% is in the Jerusalem area, 7% is in the Haifa area and 5% is in the North.