After short pause, home prices on the rise again

The price of an average home in Israel rose by 0.6% in December 2011, after falling for the previous three months, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported last night in its Home Price Index. The index had fallen 0.2% in November, 0.8% in October and 0.3% in September.

The fall in September 2011 had been the first such monthly fall in 30 months. From January 2009 until August 2011, the index had risen every single month for an accumulative total rise of 38% in the price of Israeli homes. So now after three months of modest falls, it appears that home prices are back on the rise. The Home Price Index was published by the Central Bureau of Statistics alongside the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January, which was unchanged.

The housing cost component of the January CPI, which mainly reflects rents, rose by 0.2%, also after a period of falls. At the end of the third quarter of 2011, the price of an average Israeli home (excluding new homes) stood at NIS 1.08 million, 3.2% down from the preceding quarter.

Source Globes