Liberman Proposal: Use Pension Money to Buy First Apartment

YERUSHALAYIM
Construction work on new homes outside Afula. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

With housing prices high and only going up, young families are finding it harder than ever to buy their first home – and Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman has an idea to help them out: Enabling them to use part of their pension savings to buy a first home. If it gets into the next coalition, the party will propose an exemption of the withdrawal penalty on limited amounts of money that has accumulated in the pension fund.

Generally, pension withdrawals before age 65 (or in some cases age 62) entail a 35-percent withdrawal penalty. The Yisrael Beytenu legislation will eliminate that penalty on individuals who qualify. The qualifications include candidates from ages 22 through 37. On average, individuals in this age group earn about NIS 8,000 a month. By age 37, a working couple will have amassed about NIS 300,000 in their pension plan.

Depending on how the legislation is developed, part of that amount, or all of it, will be available for early withdrawal with no penalty attached. The money will be withdrawn by the bank and transferred directly to the party the apartment is being purchased for. Still undecided is how much of the money the law will allow to be withdrawn, and whether it will apply only to new apartments, the party said.

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