In 2023, the Israel Land Authority (ILA) marketed land for the construction of 93,456 housing units through tenders and exemptions from tenders. However, only 60,117 were actually contracted for construction. This means that more than a third of the housing units marketed by the government remained without demand.
This was reported in the Israel Land Authority's year-end report. Additionally, comparing the actual transaction data to 2022, there was a decrease of around 25% from the 81,000 construction transactions closed in 2022.
Other data from the report shows that in 2023, the ILA marketed land for the construction of around 39,000 housing units at affordable prices for housing shortage and young people, which accounted for 42% of all marketing, slightly less than the 43% in 2022 when 46,342 housing units for affordable housing were marketed.
Even in the rental housing sector, which was considered the limited opportunity of 2023 and could have been an excellent solution for families displaced by the war, there was a decrease compared to 2022. Only around 4,000 land tenders were published for the construction of rental housing units, compared to approximately 6,191 units marketed in 2022 for this purpose – a decrease of more than a third. The decrease was also recorded compared to 2021 when 5,898 housing units were published for rent.
Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf manages to maintain optimism and claims that "despite the high interest rate, which reached a peak this year of close to two decades, and the war that broke out towards the end of the year, the Israel Land Authority marketed close to 100,000 housing units, an excellent figure considering the challenges.
"However, we are not resting on our laurels, and hope to achieve significantly higher marketing numbers next year," he said, "with the aim of bringing down prices and providing affordable housing for the benefit of all Israeli citizens."
ILA Director Yanki Quint said that "2023 was a challenging year in land management as well: starting with the sharp rise in interest rates, through the slump in land prices, the anticipation of elections in local authorities, and finally, the war that broke out in the last quarter of the year.
"Nevertheless, we present data indicating that land management in the authority has been characterized by flexibility and immediate response to market fluctuations, providing solutions to the problems that arose, and thus we have successfully dealt with the existing challenges," he said.
"We hope the war will end quickly so that we can work toward the recovery of the country, where the ILA, the appointed agency in charge of land management, plays an important role in assisting the development and revitalization of the economy.”