Over the past few months the real estate market has tended to stall. The result of the ongoing war, the high interest rates, the dollar-shekel rate and the economic uncertainty all combined to create a market slowdown. There is current speculation about what to expect in the coming months – while many are anticipating a drop in prices, that tends to relate more to larger cities like Tel Aviv where there is a lot of new buildings competing with second hand homes and as a result an excess of inventory. In places like Modiin, the new neighborhood (Maayanot) is only expected to be available in about 5+ years which means for the foreseeable future, there will be a static supply of homes, which will lead to greater competition for the existing properties. Plus, if the interest rates are lowered in the coming months that will also make mortgages more affordable and people who were on the fence will start actively looking. Further, there is expected to be greater demand amongst new olim choosing to move to Modiin, and people from Jerusalem/Tel Aviv also moving to the city. We will continue to monitor the market and see where prices go – in the short term, prices might go down a little even in Modiin, but we would anticipate that the fall will be minor and prices will edge back upwards. 

NEW NEIGHBORHOOD – the new neighborhood in Modiin – Maayanot – will be built to the west of Cramim. The initial plans have been approved – it will consist of approximately 3,575 housing units and designed with a mix of commercial/public institutions, a central ‘ma’ar’ with stores/restaurants on lower floors, and around 90 dunams of open green spaces. The area is designed to offer more affordable housing (much of the neighborhood will be ‘machir lemishtaken’ – building lottery) with a goal of offering solutions to keep younger families in the city. The new neighborhood is still a few years away from being sold, but will be a nice addition to the city’s growth plans. 

In regards to interest rates – all signs indicate that the Bank of Israel will lower interest rate by 0.25 next month. It is expected that in the following months interest rates will continue to drop. We believe that a lower interest rate will boost the market and bring back many buyers that were previously in a wait-and-see holding pattern.