Building starts totaled 43,620 in 2014, according to figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The Ministry of Construction and Housing, on the other hand, estimated the number of building starts as 47,000.
The Central Bureau of Statistics announced, "The figures for the past three quarters are partial, and are likely to undergo substantial changes." The Ministry of Construction and Housing noted that in recent years, the figures for building starts have been revised upwards by 7-8%; the figure for building starts in 2013 was upwardly revised by over 3,000 housing units.
Housing starts were down slightly in comparison with 2013, when building starts totaled 47,350 (the revised figure, following the initial estimate of 44,340 units), but there is still a shortage, due to the slow pace of building starts in the preceding decade.
The figures for 2014 indicate that despite the many buyers who held up their housing purchases because of the 0% VAT and target price programs, with a strong negative effect on building starts in the second quarter of that year, the contractors went back to building in the third and fourth quarters.
The leading communities in building starts were Harish (1,597 housing units) and Rosh HaAyin (2,237 units). The number of housing units under active construction reached a peak of 95,000 in 2014, the highest figure since late 1997.
The Ministry of Construction and Housing predicts that building starts will reach a new peak in 2015, because 50,500 land tenders were published in 2014, the highest number in Israel's history.
Minister of Construction and Housing Uri Ariel said, "Various parties predicted during the year that the number of building starts would not reach 40,000. Throughout the year, we kept on saying that building starts in 2014 would stay at the high level in 2013, and would total 47,000 new housing units for the hungry market, and that is what happened, despite Operation Protective Edge and the waiting for the 0% VAT plan. Together with the positive building start figures, the first contractors' conference on the target prices program, which enjoys universal support, is taking place today. The program includes tens of thousands of apartments with high-quality specifications at discounts of 20% or more on the market price. There is a commitment to a predetermined final price of less than NIS 950,000 for a 100-sq.m. apartment in Rosh HaAyin. The building starts forecast for 2015 is even higher the 2014 figures because of record marketing in 2014. The long road to a change in the trend will begin this year."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 10, 2015
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