Israel's Housing Market Sees July Sales Dip After June Recovery

Israel's housing market experienced a slowdown in July, with apartment sales falling by approximately 13.7% compared to June. In July, 7,600 apartments were sold, down from 8,810 in June, which had been the strongest month of the year. The decline was particularly pronounced in the new apartment sector, where sales dropped by about 20% to 2,930 units in July from 3,670 in June. This figure includes apartments sold on the open market and those under government subsidy programs. When separating these, sales of new apartments on the open market saw an even steeper decrease of around 26%, falling to 1,820 units in July from 2,460 in June.

Sales of second-hand apartments also decreased in July, though less dramatically, with a drop of about 9% to 4,670 units from 5,135 in June. Despite the July dip, the three-month period from May to July showed a positive trend, with a total of 25,160 apartments sold, an increase of 20.8% compared to the preceding three months (February-April). New apartment sales rose by 30.4% during this period, while second-hand sales increased by 14.8%. Compared to the same period last year (May-July 2025), overall sales were up 14.6%, driven by a 42% surge in new apartment sales, while second-hand sales saw a modest 0.8% rise.

The recovery in new apartment sales was not uniform across cities. Tel Aviv-Yafo led with 1,157 new apartment sales from May to July, a 22.6% increase. Ashdod and Kiryat Gat saw significant jumps of 270% and 123% respectively, while Haifa sales rose 58%. Jerusalem, however, experienced a 6.3% decrease in new apartment sales.

In the second-hand market, most cities saw sales increases. Petah Tikva recorded a 26.2% rise with 515 units sold from May to July. Tel Aviv-Yafo saw a 21.7% increase (573 units), Beersheba 17% (688 units), and Haifa 8% (879 units). Jerusalem, despite leading in transaction volume, saw a 4.1% increase (937 units).

The inventory of unsold new apartments remained high at the end of July, standing at approximately 84,990 units, representing 26.9 months of supply, largely unchanged from June. The majority of this inventory is concentrated in the Tel Aviv and Central districts. Jerusalem has the largest number of unsold new apartments (around 10,100), followed by Tel Aviv-Yafo (around 9,720).