Real estate company with an unusual remark: "In an election year, people buy fewer apartments"
Since the beginning of the year, YBOX has sold 36 apartments in Tel Aviv. In its report, it notes that if interest rates continue to fall, the market will recover, but explains what is causing the delay. Revenues jumped in the last quarter, one contract was cancelled.
The YBOX company, in which Yitzhak Tshuva and his son are among the stakeholders, has sold 36 apartments since the beginning of the year for a total of 335 million shekels, or 9.3 million shekels per apartment, according to the company's reports. The apartments were sold in the 'Gallipoli' and 'Tur Malka' projects in Tel Aviv, compared to only 9 housing units sold in other projects last year.
The company is aware of the slowdown in the real estate market and has therefore recently decided to work on recruiting buyers from outside Israel. The interesting part comes with the report on financing benefits and exemption from index linkage. According to the company, out of 36 apartments sold, 29 received financing benefits - this number is equal to about a third of the housing units that were sold and not yet delivered.
Another payment method is a payment of 15%–20% at signing, another 15%–20% later, and the rest at the end of the process. About 58% of all housing units sold and not yet delivered received such payment terms. There are those who pay linearly - 20% at the contract and the rest during the period until the apartment is delivered. 7% of the apartments were sold using this method.
The company addressed the issue of financing benefits and wrote in the report:
"In such cases, the exposure to the buyers' failure to meet their obligations increases, although in the company's assessment, such exposure is not expected to be material."
The company noted that only one cancellation was recorded for the purchase of a housing unit in the company's projects that are in the marketing stages (about 3 million shekels excluding VAT) and, according to it, the financing component in the contractor's loan is not material.
And now, pay attention to the interest rate issue. The company has loans totaling 837 million shekels. The loans are at a variable interest rate. According to the report, every quarter-percent change in the interest rate equals a saving of 2 million shekels. The company noted that one of the influences regarding the purchase of apartments is related to elections.
It stated in the report that, in its assessment, if the ceasefire continues, a moderate recovery in the real estate market is possible, but a higher recovery is expected if the interest rate falls in the future. The company noted in the report that "the elections in Israel expected to be held in October 2026 also prevent a full recovery in the market," adding that "since to the best of the company's knowledge, in an election year people tend to buy fewer apartments."
A few numbers from the report itself: the company's revenues jumped as a result of the increase in apartment sales. This happened because the company received a building permit for the 'Gat Rimon' project, so for the first time, revenues were recognized in its report for the project according to the progress of the execution rate. It also recorded an increase in revenues in the 'Tur Malka' project and from the sale of new apartments in the 'Gallipoli' project. Revenues jumped from 7.8 million shekels last year to about 68 million in the second quarter of the year. The company reduced the loss from last year, which was 7.6 million shekels, to 2.8 million shekels.
