2012 will apparently be a catastrophic year for the marketing of land by the Israel Land Administration. We know this because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly said so.
A statement entitled, "FAQs about National Housing Committees Law" lists the advantages of the law and the positive effects it will have on the housing market. One of the questions that the prime minister had to deal with, as his statement puts it, "The opponents claim that there are 160,000 housing units the building of which could begin immediately."
The full answer to this question is, "Not true. There is no substantial planning inventory of state-owned land available for residences. Last year, the Israel Land Administration and the Ministry of Housing and Construction marketed all the available land inventory for residential construction, effectively scraping the bottom of the barrel."
Cutting to the chase, Netanyahu says that the Israel Land Administration has no available land to sell in 2012.
After Israel Land Administration director Yaron Bibi met the government's target of marketing land for 25,000 housing units a year, for two years, there is concern about a severe crisis and risk of another price spiral. This is not only because the Israel Land Administration is "scraping the bottom of barrel" ahead of 2012, but because if the government really wants to implement Netanyahu's so-called "historic reform", the coming year will be a year of massive restructuring, which will absorb most of the Israel Land Administration's managerial resources.
By the way, as of today following approval of the reform, the Israel Land Administration is now called the Israel Land Authority.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011