In the first seven months of 2024, mortgage loans worth NIS 45 billion were taken out, 4% more than in the corresponding period of 2023, despite a 40% decrease compared to the first seven months of 2022.
Israel’s mortgage market saw a significant increase last month, with homebuyers taking out mortgages totaling NIS 9.065 billion in July, the Bank of Israel reported. This was the highest mortgage figure since the fourth quarter of 2022. No breakdown of the figures was provided, but the market was clearly influenced by attractive offers from construction and development companies on new apartments under construction.
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Mortgage lending in Israel falls in June
In the first seven months of 2024, mortgage loans worth NIS 45 billion were taken out, 4% more than in the corresponding period of 2023, despite a 40% decrease compared to the first seven months of 2022.
An estimated NIS 1.5 billion in mortgages were granted in July for 20 to 80 deals, with buyers putting down 20 percent of the price of a new apartment and paying the rest when the new apartment is completed. That’s double the amount of mortgages taken out in January.
The Bank of Israel has warned against this option due to concerns that buyers will not be able to make payments to developers, but the offers continue, mainly due to the large number of new apartments they have in their possession that they would otherwise find difficult to sell. At the end of June, construction and development companies had 67,000 such apartments, 12.5% of them in Tel Aviv.
This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on August 14, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
Higher mortgage rates lead to higher credit: Shutterstock