Eyes on the floor .....Tips for renovating before selling.

Beyond location, price and size, a potential buyer looks at three parameters: floors, bathrooms and the kitchen, says interior designer Ariella Shneor, who also heads the Association of Interior Design Architects in Israel. "These three parameters translate in the eye of the buyer into expensive renovations".

Government assitance to young couples and 1st time home buyers

The Housing Minister is proposing to the Knesset to introduce a cut on VAT (value added tax) currently 16% and a 20% mortgage refund over a 20 year span to young couples and 1st home buyers in the periphery.
Although the above measures will help the weakest sector of the population acquire their 1st home it does not provide a full solution to the continued increases in house prices mainly due to the fact that land prices sold by the Israel Lands authority to contractors remain very high whilst housing starts are very low compared to the actual demand.

Women decide what apartment to buy

According to a survey conducted by the Israel Building Center 78 % are behind the decision regarding buying apartments in new projetcs and 84% in purchasing homes in general.
88% are involved in the interior design aspects.
Now we know who dominates this industry.

Award to Bet Shemesh Mayor

The Interior Minstery,presented an award to Mayor Moshe Aboutbul for proper management of Bet Shemesh for 2009.
This is the first time that a Bet Shemesh mayor has ever won the award. Among efficient masures taken,now each department head to produce a four year work plan, something not done in the past

Israel's population stands at 7,509,000 million from the beginning of 2010

The Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. 75.4% of the population is Jewish, 20.3% Arabs, and 4.3% others (immigrants and their families who are not registered as being Jewish by the Ministry of Interior). During 2009, Israel's population grew by 1.8% - a rate of increase that has remained stable since 2003. Over the past year 160,000 babies were born in Israel, while 14,500 new immigrants came to the country - an increase over the 2008 figure of 13,700. Furthermore,the Jewish Agency reported that immigration in 2009 was higher than any of the past 10 years. As housing starts every year cannot match up to the pupulation growth, "the writing is on the wall" as regards to property prices in the country for the years to come. Settlement freeze ,if finally carried out, will add to the demand within the green line.

Number of new apartments for sale grows smaller and drops by 22%

The number of new apartments for construction ,by private developers, that remain for sale in Israel is growing smaller and smaller. At the end of February 2010, there were only 8,540 such apartments, a 22% decrease since the end of February 2009.Of the 8,540 above mentioned units, some 8,180 are currently being built, and 360 were completed in the last 15 months, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).Some 1,530 new apartments were sold to the public throughout the country in February 2010, a 14% increase from January of the same year.

Mortgages jump 56%

The real estate market boom in the past two years has resulted in a 56% increase in the value of new mortgages. At the same time, the average apartment price has risen 30%, the Bank of Israel reported today.New mortgages totaled NIS 65 billion in 2009, up from NIS 41 billion in 2008.The figures indicate that the low prevailing interest rate caused borrowers to prefer variable rate mortgages, which accounted for 77% of all new mortgages in February 2009, an all-time high. Later during the year, as expectations grew that the interest rate would be raised, the proportion of variable rate mortgages fell to 51% of all mortgages."Household debt relative to disposable income was unchanged at 60% in
Israel, lower than in other countries, such as the US, the UK, and eurozone
countries," quoted the Bank.