Israel's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in June, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported this afternoon, below the economists' expectations of 0.5%. This is the second successive month that the CPI has been below the economists' forecasts.

Even so inflation remains at its highest level in Israel for more than a decade. Inflation over the past 12 months is now 4.4%, well above the Bank of Israel's annual target range for inflation of between 1% and 3%, and this is likely to result in the Bank of Israel again hiking interest rates next month, in order to restrain inflation. But inflation remains well below rates seen elsewhere, including the US, where it is currently running at 9.1% annually.

Among the prominent rises in prices in June, were transport 2.4% and housing costs 0.7%, culture and entertainment 0.7% and health costs 0.6%. Among the prominent price falls in June, fresh fruit and vegetables fell 8.5%, and clothing and footwear fell 3.4%.

Housing prices rose 1.4% in April-May compared with March-April and have risen 15.9% over the past 12 months, up from 15.4% last month, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported.

In April-May compared with March-April, housing prices in Tel Aviv rose 1.9%, 1.6% in Jerusalem, 1.4% in the north, 1.3% in Haifa, 1.2% in the south, and 1.1% in central Israel.

Over the 12 months prior to April-May housing prices rose 19.5% in central Israel, in Tel Aviv (15.3%), in Jerusalem (14.6%), in Haifa (14.4%), in the south (14.2%), and in the north (12.8%), Globes reports.