<p class="content-excerpt">Over the last 12 months, apartment prices in Israel increased by almost 20%</p> <div class="components"> <p>Rising interest rates failed to lower real estate prices in Israel. Young families have not given up on buying a home, even though the price of an average apartment in the country reached a record 1.92 million shekels ($552,000) in October, a nearly 20-percent increase over the past 12 months, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.</p> <p>Young couples, who represent first-time buyers, now prefer to get apartments outside of central Israel, mostly in the open market, rather than through&nbsp;<a class="link" title="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/1658836040-israeli-gov-t-launches-program-to-encourage-long-term-rentals" href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/1658836040-israeli-gov-t-launches-program-to-encourage-long-term-rentals" _mce_href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/1658836040-israeli-gov-t-launches-program-to-encourage-long-term-rentals">governmental programs</a>.</p> <div class="taboola-wrapper"> <div class=" trc_related_container trc_spotlight_widget trc_elastic trc_elastic_ab_mid-article-thumbnails_abp-mode "></div> </div> <p>As a result, most homes were purchased in the southern region in the third quarter of 2022: 3,800 housing deals in this area, compared to 3,600 in central Israel out of a total of 16,500 homes purchased between July and September, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.</p> </div>