ByZEV STUB

Israelis continue to buy new homes in record numbers. Some 5,314 new apartments were sold in May, a new record high, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Wednesday.

That represented a jump of about 35% from the previous month, when 3,939 apartments were sold. Analysts expect the upward trend to continue in the months ahead.

Some 46,474 apartments have been sold in the past 12 months, 37% more than the year earlier, CBS said.

About a third of all new apartments sold were located in Ashkelon, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramat Gan, Nahariya, Kiryat Ono and Petah Tikva.

Despite very high real estate prices, apartment sales have been frantic in recent months. Earlier this week, the Bank of Israel said the volume of mortgages taken in June reached an all-time high of NIS 11.6 billion. That is nearly twice as much as was borrowed in February 2020, on the eve of the pandemic.

Real estate prices have already risen an average of 5.6% in the past year, according to the CBS.

Prices are rising because of the lack of housing available in the country, as well as the glut of cheap money available for buyers due to record-low interest rates, Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman said Tuesday.

The new government has made lowering housing costs and increasing affordable housing options among its key goals for the coalition.