Investors stormed the apartments in the periphery

The real estate investments in August rose to 24% after the three previous months that stabilized at 23%. Preliminary data for September shows a further increase close to 26%. Due to a sharp increase of 20% for investors in Haifa, Tel Aviv area stands out with a sharp decline of 24% in the number of apartments purchased for investment in August.

1 in 3 apartments bought as investment

One out of three apartments purchased during the second quarter of 2009 were bought for the purpose of investment as record low interest rates and volatile stock markets prompted investors to switch course, the Israeli Finance Ministry reported .
The percentage of apartments bought for investment reached a record following years of continued growth since 2002, when the rate stood at 22 %. In the second quarter of the year, 33 % of all purchased apartments were bought by investors," said the Finance Ministry.