Tel Aviv Real Estate - August 09, 2005

New research by Finehome.co.il, which holds tenders for loans among banks and financial institutions, reveals that Tel Aviv has the lowest loyalty of its residents. Petah Tikva, a nearby city of Tel Aviv, on the other hand, attracts the greatest number of new residents, says the organization. 23% of the residents in Tel Aviv taking mortgages, plan to move to another city. 12% of people taking mortgages intend to move to Tel Aviv. The average mortgage in Tel Aviv is NIS 524,000 (roughly USD 116,500).

The Lev Yehud vacate-and-build project was finally approved for deposit by the Central Planning and Building Board in the first week of August, 2005. The project will include 1,342 housing units and 7,500 sq.m. of commercial space. Yehud is about a 15-25 minute drive from Tel-Aviv. Yehud Mayor Yossi Ben-David initiated the project, and it will probably be certified by the local planning and building committee at the end of August. The plan aims to convert the historic old town of Yehud, built on the remains of the Arab village of Yehudia, into a modern town center.

Apartment sales in the first half of 2005 were noticeably lower than in the second part of 2004. The Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that sales of apartments in January to May 2005 were 4% lower than in August to December 2004. 1,080 private sector apartments were sold in May 2005. Of these, 950 were still under construction. Another encouraging figure by the organization is that half the apartments sold in the past month were sold within eight months of the start of construction. On average, contractors need a year from the start of construction to sell apartments. Sales of apartments in the Jerusalem district have seen a major rise and were 57% greater than in the corresponding period of last year.