Despite the pandemic and a national lockdown in September, housing purchases reached a three-year high in the third quarter of 2020, a Finance Ministry report said. During the period, 25,800 housing units were sold, an increase of 9% from the third quarter of 2019. That was the highest quarterly figure since the first three months of 2017, and a 54% increase from the second quarter of 2020, which was marred by Israel's first lockdown and general market pandemonium. The numbers are for homes sold on the free market, and do not include those sold under government subsidy programs. When subsidized homes are included, a total of 30,000 apartments were sold during the third quarter, the most since 2015. Despite the busy quarter, total home sales are still down by about 8% from 2019, with approximately 65,000 sales in the first nine months of the year. Earlier this month, the Bank of Israel reported that a record NIS 70 billion had been taken in mortgages during the first 11 months of the year, exceeding the NIS 68b. that was borrowed for mortgages during the whole of 2019. Also earlier in the month, the central bank took steps to further increase demand by removing a cap on the percentage of a mortgage linked to the prime rate, a move expected to make home loans cheaper as long as interest rates remain at record lows. The Finance Ministry report noted surprising geographic trends in the market. Purchases in Tel Aviv and the Center, where demand is traditionally very high, declined against the previous year for the fourth straight quarter. In total, just 9,300 homes have been sold in the Center since the beginning of the year, a 17% decline. Meanwhile, Jerusalem and Hadera notched the largest quarterly increases in the country, 24% and 19%, respectively. (Hadera's growth in the quarter belies the fact that sales there are down 22% for the year, the largest decline of any region in Israel.) Some 3,750 apartments were sold in the Jerusalem area between July and September, one of the area's most active quarters ever. The report noted that the growth for the Jerusalem area was largely concentrated in Beit Shemesh. Young couples bought more apartments during the third quarter, mostly secondhand apartments. Sales of secondhand apartments constituted 80% of purchases, rising a modest 4% during the quarter. Meanwhile, sales of new apartments to the same demographic rose a sharp 36%, the first such increase in more than a year. The survey noted that 4,300 units were bought by investors during the third quarter, 19% more than a year ago, and the highest level since 2017.
