Modi’in tops new home sales in Q1 2010
Posted on 27. Apr, 2010 by Buy-It In Israel Staff in Israel Real Estate
Merkaz Hakablanim Modi'in: Contractors selling new homes in Modi'in
The Israel real estate market is continuing to attract buyers of new apartments across a number of top areas in the country popular among foreign residents and new immigrants.
In the first three months of the year, the number of new apartments built on state land, that were sold across the country surged by 68 percent to 1,059 apartments compared with 632 apartments during the same period in 2009, according to a survey by Israel’s Housing and Construction Ministry.
Top of the list in new home sales in the first quarter of the year was the city of Modi’in, where a total of 246 apartments were sold opposite 105 apartments in the first three months of 2009, representing an increase of 135 percent. Ohad Saban, deputy manager at Dona Engineering and Construction LTD., which sold 96 housing units in the city in the first three months of 2010, believes that the rise in property prices in the center of the country and neighbouring areas is continuing and is leading to a surge in demand also in Modi’in, where young couple can still find new apartments at reasonable prices and can get value for money.
In second place in the list of the cities and areas with the highest number of sales of new apartments was the Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem, where 110 apartments were sold in the months January to March this year compared with 79 apartments during the same months last year – an increase of 40 percent. Manyof the residents of Har Homa today are young families who moved there in search of affordable housing.
One of the suprises in the survey was the city of Yavne located 25 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, which came in third place in the list. In the first quarter of this year, 87 new apartments were sold in Yavne after not even one new apartment was sold in the city in the same period in 2009 probably because new construction was missing.
Unexpected activity in the Israel real estate market was experienced by Yokneam Illit. In the small city located southeast of Haifa, which has developed as a centre for high-tech businesses, due to its proximity to the Technion in eastern Haifa, 49 new apartments were sold in the first three months of 2010 following no sales of new apartments during the same period a year earlier.
Ma’ale Adumim and Eilat saw a decline in the number of sales of new apartments in the first quarter of 2010. In Ma’ale Adumim the number of new apartment sales dropped by 41 percent to 39 apartments from 66 apartments in the first quarter of 2009. In Eilat, only 29 new apartments were sold in the first three months of the year compared with 41 apartments in the same three months last year.
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