Israeli Housing Market Sees Sales Dip, Unsold Inventory Rises

In August 2026, Israel's housing market experienced a slight decline in apartment sales, with 7,366 units sold, a 5% decrease from July's 7,768 units, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. After a brief recovery in May-June, the market slowed again, though sales of new apartments from developers saw a marginal increase, accounting for 45% of total sales (3,320 units). Approximately 40% of these new units were purchased under the "Price for Tenant" (Mehir le-Mishtaken) subsidized housing program. The secondary market comprised the remaining 55% of sales, with 4,050 apartments sold.

Over the three-month period from June to August 2026, 24,200 apartments were sold nationwide, an 11% increase compared to March-May, largely due to the May-June surge. However, after adjusting for seasonal fluctuations, sales decreased by approximately 3%. Year-over-year, sales rose about 8%, or 8.5% with seasonal adjustments. New apartment sales during June-August reached 10,110 units (42% of total sales), with about a third purchased with government subsidies. Compared to the previous three months, new construction sales grew 11.6% but fell 5.5% seasonally adjusted. Year-over-year, new construction sales increased by approximately 25%.

On the secondary market, 14,090 apartments were sold between June and August, representing 58% of all transactions. This was a 10.8% increase from March-May, but a 1% decrease after seasonal adjustments. Compared to June-August of the previous year, secondary market sales dropped 1.4%, or 0.8% seasonally adjusted.

Geographically, the Central and Southern districts led in overall transactions during June-August, with 23% and 22.6% of sales respectively. The Southern district led in new apartment sales (25.3%), followed by the Central (22%) and Tel Aviv (18.2%) districts. The Central district led secondary market sales (24%). Among cities, Kiryat Gat, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Haifa led in new apartment sales in June-August. Tel Aviv-Yafo saw a significant drop of about 27% in new apartment sales, while Ashdod and Ashkelon experienced the sharpest declines at approximately 53% and 31.5% respectively. Jerusalem saw a 25% decrease. Notably, Rechasim saw over 700% growth in sales, Migdal HaEmek over 400%, Herzliya around 250%, and Kiryat Gat 2017%.

By the end of August 2026, 85,682 new apartments remained unsold, a figure that continued to rise. The estimated time to sell this inventory slightly decreased to 26.7 months. Long-term data shows a consistent monthly increase of about 1.2% in unsold new apartments since April 2022. The Tel Aviv district holds the largest share of unsold new apartments (30.7%, or 26,330 units), followed by the Central district (24.7%, or 21,190 units). Among cities with over 100,000 residents, Jerusalem has the most unsold new apartments (10,250), followed by Tel Aviv-Yafo (9,820). Among smaller cities, Lod (3,010) and Kiryat Gat (2,930) have the most unsold new apartments.