The decline in housing starts has slowed. The Central Bureau of Statistics reports that while there were 1% fewer housing starts in January-September 2008, compared with the corresponding period of 2007, there was no change in the third quarter compared with the corresponding quarter. There were 2.9% fewer housing starts in the first quarter, compared with the corresponding quarter and 1.6% fewer housing starts in the second quarter compared with the corresponding quarter.
There were 22,640 housing starts in January-September, of which 41% were private and semi-detached houses. The top five cities in terms of housing starts in January-September were Tel Aviv-Jaffa, with 1,339; Jerusalem with 1,095; Rishon LeZion, with 915, Netanya, with 811, and Modi'in, with 731. However, there were 29% fewer housing starts in Tel Aviv and 14% fewer housing starts in Jerusalem, compared with the corresponding period in 2007. However, there were 56% more housing starts in Rishon LeZion and 54% more in Modi'in.
A breakdown of housing starts by region in January-September showed that 33% were in the Central district, 21% were in the Northern district, 16% in the Tel Aviv district, and 7% were in the Jerusalem district. However, compared with the corresponding period, housing starts in the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem districts were down 22%, and they were down 20% in the northern district. However, housing starts were up 22% in the Central district.
47% of housing starts in January-September were built on publicly owned land and 50% were built on private land.
22,220 houses were completed in January-September, 0.6% fewer than during the corresponding period. 37% of housing completions were of private and semi-detached homes. 30% of housing completions were in the Central district, 8% fewer than in January-September of 2007, 18% were in the Tel Aviv district, 21% more than in the corresponding period, and 10% were in the Jerusalem district, 30% more than in the corresponding period.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 30, 2008
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