According to JerusalemOnline (http://www.jerusalemonline.com/dhome.asp) on Sunday and Monday, 8 and 9 August, apartment prices in the major cities have soared. As examples:
Haifa, up 20%
Jerusalem, up "only" 19%
Tel Aviv, up 32%
That's bad enough, but, according to the video, the government is proposing additional new - and "high" - taxes on apartment buyers.
As much as I would like to see housing prices in the Several States increase by those amounts, I don't think Israel can afford the move (of levying substantial additional taxes on buyers).
This will stifle the economy and that boggles my mind. But then I am not an economist and I don't play one on tv.
My daughter and her husband are trying to buy a place of their own and the grandparents-to-be are seriously considering a return (if I can just find employment). Given the still falling prices of property in the U.S. and the increases in Israel, the "Second Aliyah" as it were becomes less likely.
I can't imagine what the government hopes to accomplish by the threat of new taxes.
Perhaps it believes adding to the cost of an apartment will, in the long run, drive prices down by reducing the demand. At the same time, if it allows organizations such as Nefesh b'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency to bring in new olim (that's redundant), the demand will remain high but unless highly subsidized by someone , the demand will go unfulfilled due to the total cost of ownership.
If the government plans to offer subsidies, adding the tax burden seems foolish; taking with one hand and giving with the other.
Rental properties in Israel still are a rarity - one reason people tend to remain in one location rather than moving to new opportunities. I can't write abut Europe and the Island, but in the States, it's easy to move from place to place - even across the country - and have a rental waiting.
I need two things in order to succeed in Israel: a job and a place to live (in that order).
One of those things - housing - shortly may be out-of-reach.
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Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn at gmail dot com
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