Real Estate Yesterday and Today

We are facing not only a political problem of being restricted from building as we please, but we now are facing a shortage of 15,000 houses.

The Israelis don’t want to be construction workers, the Arabs in Israel are not very reliable or professional, the foreigners are a big headache and the bottom line is that even if we want to build now, we really can’t do it without an entire change in the system.

• Prices are higher than ever - either to buy or to rent
• Rents are skyrocketing
• Landlords are not remodeling, therefore the quality of the apartments are diminishing
• In the best locations apartments are being divided into small units (illegally) and some are as small as 25 square meters
• Rent increases are as high as 9% a year
• Many thousands apartments are now empty because they were bought by foreigners when the Euro and the Dollar were at their highest and the new owners used them for themselves once in a while when they came to visit but they won’t sell
• More and more forecloses are taking place because many people are behind their payments (these foreclosures are sold in a blink of the eye)

Below you can find the changes on the Construction Inputs Index.

The changes in the last few weeks:

If you have the means, this is the time to purchase a property. The market is frozen and there are many bargains out there.

Good Luck,

Tzvi Szajnbrum, Attorney at Law