Last week, the government announced how it plans to deal with the housing crisis in Israel. The plan includes measures anticipated by the public, such as increasing the purchase tax for real estate investors, as well as some surprises, like a ban on short-term vacation rentals and exorbitant benefits for private homeowners. Just before the...

A new bill proposed would allow developers to convert up to 30% of the built-up area in some office buildings into residential apartments. The government hopes that this move will address the urgent need to increase apartment supply while making use of the enormous surplus of approved office plans. The initiative, which fits into the...

Over the last fifteen years, Be’er Ya’akov has tripled its population and evolved from a remote town with a poor reputation to one of the places in central Israel with the highest number of active construction projects. With a new business district and plans to be connected to a convenient metro network, the brand new...

A new government comes with a new subsidized housing program: last week, Minister of Housing, Ze’ev Elkin, announced the renewal of the Target Price plan (mechir matara), which was briefly implemented in 2014. As part of the program, thousands of apartments are expected to be sold each year at a 20% discount relative to the...

More building rights, more planning flexibility, and most importantly – an attempt to encourage municipalities to implement urban renewal on a larger scale than ever before. Only one month after being appointed Minister of Interior, Ayelet Shaked presented a new urban renewal plan that she hopes will replace Tama 38 and increase the number of...

A week and a half of rocket fire has called into question one of the most significant reforms the government has tried to implement in the field of planning and construction: repealing TAMA 38 and replacing it with another urban renewal plan.  TAMA 38 is currently the main program through which old buildings in Israel...

One of Israel’s greatest protective measures from incoming missile attacks is known as the mamad (an acronym for merchav mugan dirati) – referring to a room in an apartment built of reinforced concrete. Despite the fact that it has been thirty years since the government required the construction of such a space in every new...

In an attempt to cool the rise in apartment prices in recent months, the State has released the details of its plan for upcoming residential construction land tenders with massive construction to take place in Gush Dan, Ashdod, and Ashkelon. According to the plan, a total of 69,000 apartments will be marketed in 2021, including...

The rental market in Israel, which until recently was characterized by chaos and a lack of regulation, and ruled by private investors, is finally maturing. In the last few years, the market has become far more sophisticated, with the establishment of a government company to promote long-term rentals and three real estate investment trusts (REITs)...

Jerusalem’s housing market is expected to change dramatically in the next decade after years of relatively little construction. A large number of plans currently being advanced will result in the construction of tens of thousands of new homes in the city. The proposals include a new city center to be built in place of a...