7% increase in household debt

Mortgages found to account for 69% of all household debt.

In the year 2014 total household debt reached record high levels. This was primarily caused by the increase in the price of housing, which incited buyers to take out more mortgages.

Figures recently published by Bank of Israel indicate that households’ balance of debt had increased 7% in 2014, which amounts to a 28.4 billion shekel gain. The number of new mortgages increased by 5.2%, which represents an increase of 15 billion shekel.

At the end of 2014, total mortgages represented a figure of 303 billion shekels, and household debt was 438 billion shekels, which means mortgages represented 69% of total household debt, and have accounted for a similar percentage for the last few years.

In December 2014 household debt rose 0.7%, or 3.2 billion shekels.