While home prices waver, rents are moving strongly upwards

The Central Bureau of Statistics has started to publish a new index of prices of secondhand homes, which gives extra insight into housing market trends.

The Home Price Index is wavering, and after a month in which it fell substantially there have been two months of moderate rises, apparently arising from the new homes market. Rents continue to weigh on tenants and on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and the Central Bureau of Statistics has launched a new index that strengthens the assessment that sellers of secondhand homes are struggling to find buyers and are cutting prices.

The Home Price Index rose 0.2% between May-June 2026 and June-July 2026 (the Central Bureau of Statistics warns that the figure is not final). Year-on-year, comparing June-July 2026 with June-July 2025, the index fell by 1.2%. The Housing Services Index, which includes rents, rose by 0.7% between July and August this year and by 3.6% between August 2025 and August 2026, showing home prices and rents moving in opposite directions.

The Central Bureau of Statistics’ new index is a quarterly index of secondhand home prices that will appear with a delay of one month in order that the Central Bureau of Statistics will be able to gather data on most of the transaction that took place in each quarter from the Israel Tax Authority. It emerges that prices of secondhand homes fell by 1.2% in the second quarter of this year in comparison with the first quarter.

Secondhand home prices generally moderate the price falls seen in the second quarter of the year. This year, while secondhand home prices fell by 1.2% in the second quarter, the general Home Price Index, which also includes new homes, fell by 1.4% between the first and second quarters.

In the northern, Haifa, and southern districts, where home prices rose by less than 0.5% in the second quarter in comparison with the first quarter, the general Home Price Index fell by 0.3%, 0.6%, and 0.9% respectively. In other words, the new and secondhand markets displayed opposite trends.

Only in the Jerusalem district did secondhand homes accelerate the decline. Their prices fell by 2.9% in the second quarter in that district, while the general Home Price Index fell there by only 2.3%.

Unfortunately, the Central Bureau of Statistics measured secondhand home prices only one quarter back, so not much more can be concluded.

The Home Price Index in the central district fell by 3.2% between June-July 2025 and June-July 2026. The index fell 2.4% in Haifa, 0.9% in Tel Aviv, and by 0.6% in the southern district. In the Jerusalem and northern districts prices rose 1% year-on-year.

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Could there be a connection between the forthcoming election and the price rises in recent months? In our view, no. In the past, some correlation has been found between election periods and price rises, but it’s hard to discern that this time. The rises are very small, and besides that home prices have not been a prominent issue in the current election campaign.

As for rents, we have seen for a while that the absence of government policy on the matter is exacting a direct price from tenants, and an indirect price from everyone, as rents represent a quarter of the CPI. In the past year, the CPI has risen by 1.5%, while the Housing Services Index has risen by 3.6%, which means that it has had a large part in the rise in the CPI.

Incidentally, this week the Ministry of Construction and Housing published recommendations on rents policy after a delay of almost two years and in political "garbage time" when no progress can be made on the issue.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 16, 2026.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.