The Official Guide
New home prices fall by 0.9% in June
Posted on 01. Aug, 2010 by buyitinisrael.
The trend of a decline in prices of new homes reported from the beginning of the year continued in June, according to an economic report by Israel’s Finance Ministry. The median price of new homes dropped by 0.9 percent in June. A geographical comparison found that the decline encompassed most areas around the country apart from Haifa and Rehovot. The area which saw a sharp fall in Israel real estate prices in June was Beersheva.
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Effect of August interest rate hike on prime loan mortgages
Posted on 29. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
For the first time in four months the Bank of Israel this week raised interest rates for August by a quarter percentage point from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent in a move to cool Israel real estate prices which are feared to develop into a bubble. Over the past year prices in the Israel housing market have risen over 20 percent and the Bank of Israel warned recently that if they continue to rise at this pace a bubble will develop.
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Homebuyers’ confidence in Israeli construction companies returns
Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
More Israel real estate buyers are again purchasing apartments and houses from contractors following the changes in the Israeli Sales Law, which seeks to protect the interests of new apartment buyers. In 2009 and over the course of the first five months of 2010, there is a rising trend in the rate of new apartments bought from contractors compared with 2008, according to a survey by the Contractors’ Association.
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Interest rates in Israel – a look at historical and current data
Posted on 18. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
In Israel, the rate of interest is announced by the Bank of Israel at the end of every month. These announcements have been made since 1991, and provide the commercial banks with a benchmark for their rates on local-currency unindexed deposits and credit. This rate also affects the banks’ prime rates. In the last few years prime interest has been about one and a half percentage points higher than the interest rate announced by the Bank of Israel. Prime rates are particularly important to mortgages linked to the prime interest rate. A mortgage linked to the prime interest rate based on the Bank of Israel rate is usually taken out for a period of up to 25 years.
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The cost of bureaucracy in Israel
Posted on 15. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
The bulk of bureaucracy involved in the process of issuing permits in the new construction sector makes up nearly six percent of the purchase price of a real estate in Israel, according to a study by the Israeli Contractors Association. Bureaucratic processes and delays in the approval of construction permits with which a contractor has to deal with, generates an additional cost of NIS 90,000 for the individual buyer to the price of an average four-room apartment at NIS 1,500,000.
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Understanding the Madad – Consumer Price Index
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
The Madad, which is the Hebrew for Consumer Price Index (CPI) or rate of inflation, is followed very closely by Israelis since movements in the monthly index affect nearly every aspect in life from salaries, mortgages, housing, transportation costs or prices of fruit and vegetables, and other expenses. In brief, a number of very important income and other expense items of every household are linked fully or partially to monthly or quarterly inflation.
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Bank of Israel warns on mortgage risk
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by buyitinisrael.
The Bank of Israel today warned about the possible effects of interest rate hikes on the mortgage market and about possible consequences of a substantial fall in home prices. The warning appear in excerpts from the “Annual Survey of Israel’s Banking System, 2009″, which focuses on stress tests for banks. Read the full article on Globes [...]
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National Association for Better Housing
Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff.
The National Association for Better Housing (Ha’aguda letarbut hadiyur) is a non-profit organization to protect tenants’ rights in apartment blocks. The association has legal advisers specialized in real estate and joint property law, whose services can be used by members in cases regarding tenants’ rights, dispute-resolving in joint property disputes, payment failure of joint building expenses, counseling opposite maintenance companies or opposite constructors and builders.
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Choosing the right type of kitchen countertop
Posted on 02. Jul, 2010 by DebbieG.
In recent years, an array of choices of countertops (collectively known as shayish) have become available in Israel, from granite, wood, engineered stone to glass. The majority of products are brands imported from major companies around the world, while some products are ‘home-grown”or manufactured in Israel. The types of countertops available for kitchen and bathroom tops, can be divided into six main groups which are granite, engineered stone, synthetic, wood, stainless steel and glass countertop products.
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Points to consider when negotiating a rental contract
Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by buyitinisrael.
Negotiating a rental contract can be stressful for both the landlord and prospective tenant. The negotiations may be further exasperated when a family is endeavoring to rent a home in Israel from abroad. An additional challenge is that a supermajority of rental agreements are presented to the prospective tenant in Hebrew, and in many situations the landlord’s English skills are severely limited as is the Hebrew of the prospective tenant. Add that to the technical differences between what is standard in rentals in Israel and your home country, and the cultural differences, and rightfully so, many parties find themselves extremely challenged.
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Using Shabbat timers for operating lights and fans
Posted on 27. Jun, 2010 by buyitinisrael.
The Torah prohibits 39 activities on Shabbat. Included in these prohibitions are activities such as switching on or off lights, fans, air-conditioningand heating systems. A common practice today in Jewish homes in Israel and abroad is for the use of a Shabbat timer (shaon Shabbat) to perform these activities, where a timer is set before Shabbat and continues to operate on Shabbat without any human involvement.
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