Rental thoughts to munch on

When I think of rentals, many ideas are conjured including cost, size, location etc.
Rental costs vary in cities. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for example have high rental fees comparatively to Beit Shemesh,Kiryat Gat, or Beer Sheva. In these areas one can find decent rentals .
When looking at rentals, one must pay attention to many pointers .One does not want to rent a home that has damp issues, or requires work that has not been done.
Even better, beware of homeowners who promise to deal with issues that have not been dealt with . If you came to look at the apartment and serious issues have not been
dealt with BEFORE viewing , you will want to inspect it AGAIN before signing a contract.
Renters should take all costs into consideration to verify that the apartment they
are interested in, they can afford and not THINK they can afford it.
For example, this 6 square meter kiosk rents for 12,500 shekels a month.
Can you afford the rent? The municipal tax? Any related maintenance fees?
This does not include water, electricity, gas etc.
Got any questions, feel free to contact me. 🙂

On a positive note

Israel was ranked as one of the happiest countries                                         

We’ve been ranked 11th place, not bad for a place

that people sometimes say “people are rude”

With all that “rudeness”, we are doing something right

Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Earth

Institute at Columbia University released their report for preparation

of UN World Happiness Day this coming Sunday.

* But we didn’t need the world to tell us that, we know the truth

Sales in Givat sharett, Beit Shemesh area

 

 

*יום מכירה	*תמורה מוצהרת	ישוב	שטח	חדרים
20/05/2015	1,037,000 ₪	בית שמש	63	3.0
04/06/2015	1,565,000 ₪	בית שמש	100	4.0
14/05/2015	900,000 ₪	בית שמש	81	3.0
21/06/2015	900,000 ₪	בית שמש	67	3.0
22/06/2015	1,050,000 ₪	בית שמש	116	6.0
30/07/2015	980,000 ₪	בית שמש	74	3.0
13/08/2015	1,000,000 ₪	בית שמש	82	4.0
17/08/2015	965,000 ₪	בית שמש	63	3.0
12/11/2015	920,000 ₪	בית שמש	63	3.0
06/12/2015	990,000 ₪	בית שמש	67	3.0

 

Public transportation fares to Tel Aviv to be cut

By Hedy Cohen

GLOBES

Public transportation fares will be slashed as part of an effort by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to contend with the work on the light rail in Tel Aviv and to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home. The projected costs of the plan stand at NIS 120 million.

The planned reform of the system would institute unified pricing for each of the major metropolitan areas: Tel Aviv , Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba. It would radically decrease costs by allowing passengers 90 minutes to transfer between different modes of transportation – bus, train,light rail, and MetroFi rapid bus transit systems without paying an additional charge, as long as they remain within the designated area.

The plan also calls for significantly reducing the prices of monthly hybrid passes that allow unlimited rides on both trains and buses throughout the metropolitan area.

For example, under the new regulations, a monthly pass for rail and bus use between Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion would cost NIS 252 instead of NIS 400, a decrease of 37 percent. Between Tel Aviv and Rehovot, the cost of the pass would fall to NIS 286 from NIS 491, down 42%, while commuters making the journey between Tel Aviv an Netanya would save 30%.

 

Knesset approves Kahlon’s tax increases on apartments for investment

By Niv Elis

The Knesset on Monday approved Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s plan to increase taxes on apartments, a move intended to steer existing apartments out of the rental market and onto the sales market.

By making it more expensive for investors to buy apartments for renting out, the Finance Ministry hopes to keep more apartments on the market for home buyers, thus driving down the sales price.

The law will go into effect on June 24, not July 1 as earlier planned, in order to cover apartment buyers looking to quickly close deals ahead of the law coming into effect.

Tax rates will rise to 8 percent on apartments under NIS 1.12 million (currently at 5%), from NIS 1.12 m. to NIS 3.37m. (currently 6%) and from NIS 3.37m. to NIS 4.64m. (Currently 7%).  They will rise to 10% on apartments from NIS 4.64m. to NIS 15.47m. (currently 8%) and remain at 10% for apartments over NIS 15.47m.

“I’ve seen the entirety of things they (the Finance Ministry) want to do in housing, and for the first time we are talking about a serious process and, if it comes to fruition, we are on the right path,” said Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ).

Zionist Union MK Manuel Trajtenberg, who had run as his party’s nominee for finance minister, congratulated Kahlon for getting the ball rolling.

“This is the first step in the right direction after six years of absent policy for failed attempts to deal with the insane increase in home prices,” Trajtenberg said.

The bill hit a brief sang when opposition parties objected to how the new rules apply to siblings who inherit an apartment. The apartment would be considered an investment apartment only if three or more siblings inherit it.

“You must find a solution to inheriting siblings starting at two siblings, and not just from there up,” said Zionist Union MK Erel Margalit. “We should define ownership as over  ‘a portion of the apartment’ and not a third of an apartment.”

The treasury promised to address the issue within a month, and the provision of a temporary measure in the bill brought most of the opposition on board to support it.

Finance Ministry director-general Shay Badad noted that the policy was the first in a series of steps intended to increase the supply of housing, but said this step was one that could have an immediate, if limited, impact.

Every percentage increase in the purchase tax, he said, would reduce the market of investors by 10%.

Rise in home prices starts to slow down

By Adi Ben-Israel

GLOBES

Home prices are rising at a slower rate, according to data released Sunday by the Government Assessor. Home prices rose just 0.3 percent in the third quarter in comparison with the second quarter.

In six cities there were even falls in prices, including in Tel Aviv, where the price of a four-room apartment fell 2% to NIS 2.7 million. 

The government Assessor’s survey examine prices on four-room apartments only, since these are the properties in highest demand in the Israeli housing market. “In the surveyed period, the trend of moderate price rises that has characterized the past year slowed to the point of halting altogether,” the Government Assessor’s report said. “At the end of March, the government’s decision on measures to bring down housing prices was published, among them the “target price” program and the plan for 0% VAT.

“In the surveyed period, these programs had not yet been implemented. Moreover, Operation Protective Edge took place in this period. These two factors led to a sharp fall in the number of transactions during the summer months, which was partly corrected during September, when there was rise in the number of transactions in comparison with previous months”

In Haifa, the price of four-room apartment fell 1% in the third quarter to NIS 1,277,000. In comparison with the third quarter of 2013, a rise of 3% was recorded. For the Jerusalem, there was a third-quarter rise of 4% to NIS 1,936,000 and a 12- month rise of 10%. In Modi’in, prices remained stable in the third quarter at 1,627,000 up 5% over the third quarter of 2013. In Herzliya, prices fell 2% in the third quarter to NIS 1,990,000 up 3% compared with 2013. In Netanay, prices rose 2% in the third quarter, up 4% compared with 2013.

According to Ministry of Construction and Housing data, the stock of unsold new housing units rose to 26,920 in the third quarter.

Rents rise 6.6%in a year nationwide

Price of average home increases despite fall in sales

By Ori Chudy and Shlomit Tzur

August is the most active month in the residential rental market, especially with the new academic year approaching. Added to the pressure this year is the expectation that promised government programs will make buying an apartment cheaper, which is encouraging potential buyers to continue renting and to renew leases.

Rents rose 1.1 percent nationally in the second quarter of 2014 compared with the first quarter and 6.6% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2013, according to Central Bureau of Statistics data.

Since 2007 , rents have risen an average of 64.2% nationwide. In Tel Aviv they increased 85% in seven years from NIS 3,067 per month in the second quarter of 2007 to NIS 5,671 in the second quarter of  2014. In 2007, rents for large apartments (4.5 TO 5 Rooms) in Tel Aviv were the highest in the country at  NIS 4,849 per month.Today they are NIS 5,671.

In the Sharon region, average rents have risen 73% since 2007, while rents for large apartments increased 785.

The lowest rents in the second quarter of 2014 were for small apartments (1.5 to 2 rooms) in Haifa and its Bayside suburbs, at NIS 1,654 per month. In 2007 they were also the lowest rents nationwide at NIS 1,250. That is still a  32.3% increase, with a  5.5% annual return on investment for landlords.Renting out an apartment in the North yielded an average return of 5.2%.

Returns on investment for small apartments were 4.5% in Haifa, 4.2% in the central region and 4.75 in the South.

The lowest return for landlords for renting out large apartments in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, at 2.5% in both cities, despite the difference in prices.

The slowdown in the sale of homes continued alongside rising apartment prices in the second quarter of 2014, Government Assessor Tal Alderotti reported Monday. The price of an average 4 room apartment in Israels six largest cities rose 1.6 percent in the second quarter and 6% in the 12 months ending in June.

Average home prices rose most sharply in Ramle (7%) in the second quarter, followed by Eilat (6%), Jerusalem and Modiin (4% each ). Prices rose 1% in Tel Aviv in the second quarter and 9% over the 12 months ending in June..

Prices fell 1% in Holon and 4% in Beersheba in the second quarter. There was no change in prices in Ashkelon, Herzliya, and Kfar Saba in the second quarter.

There was a major slowdown in home sales in the second quarter, mainly of new homes because of the governments plan to charge 0% VAT to new home buyers. However, the low number of deals did not stem rising prices.

Ministerial C’tee approves 0% VAT on new homes

The bill now moves on to the Knesset Finance Committee.

The changes already made include raising the eligibility threshold for applicants who did not serve in the IDF or National Service from NIS 600,000 to NIS 950,000, and eliminating the eligibility document. The revised bill also sets September 1 for the law to come into effect.

The bill is also opposed by Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug who fears that much of the savings in 0% VAT will not find its way into the buyer’s pockets.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on June 16, 2014

* The big question is, who will it benefit?

The plan for 0% VAT on new homes of up to NIS 600,000 for those who don’t perform national service has been slammed.

The maximum price for which a VAT exemption will be granted to those who have not served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or civilian national service, it is believed, will change from NIS 600,000, as the Ministry of Finance announced yesterday, to a larger amount. This follows the stubborn objections of Minister of Construction and Housing Uri Ariel, and comments by the Minister of Justice, and the Attorney General that if there are insufficient new apartments in this price range then the price will change.

“The compromise presented by the Ministry of Finance for the VAT criteria is unacceptable,” said Minister of Construction and Housing Uri Ariel at the Knesset Finance Committee meeting on the housing crisis. “The compromise needs to be more egalitarian. I repeat: there will be no NIS 600,000 limit for people who did not serve, it won’t pass. Why? Because there are no such apartments, maybe a few, and, in addition, the Finance Committee, in my opinion, will not allow it.” Ariel’s comment comes after he attacked the compromise as unrealistic yesterday, following its announcement by the Ministry of Finance. Ariel also said he would be speaking to the Attorney General to emphasize that there are no new apartments for NIS 600,000 on the market.

It appears that Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni is also demanding explanations about the compromise. Livni instructed Ministry of Justice Land Appraisals Council chairperson Tal Aldrussi to check whether the data presented to the Ministry of Justice in the discussions of the zero-VAT agreement are correct and accurately reflect the reality in the market.

According to Livni, if the data are not in line with reality, “There will be no escaping changing the relevant clause.” She further said that “Encouraging and rewarding young people who bettered their country by serving in the IDF or national civilian service, is a worthy process, and is our duty. If it becomes clear that the figures presented to the Ministry of Justice, based upon which the Attorney General made his recommendation to the government, are inaccurate, and are not in line with reality, there will be no choice but to adjust the amount at which the benefit is given, without harming the benefits given those who served their country.”

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on May 12, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014