The demolition of the building at 1 Pin Street, Tel Aviv.
August 2015/Ruben Castro
In 2023, 63,032 new apartments began to be built in Israel, a decrease of about 8.9% compared to 2022. When looking at the beginnings of the construction of apartments built as part of the demolition of old buildings and the construction of new buildings in their place (including construction evacuation projects and TMA 38-2) it can be seen that the decrease is even sharper and stands at about 11.5% (in 2023, 11,486 units began to be built compared to 12,980 in 2022).
Thus, it emerges from the analysis of the construction starts by the Central Bureau of Investigation carried out by the Urban Development and Renewal Company.
Another evidence of a decrease in the start of construction in urban renewal comes from the number of apartments that were actually demolished in order to rebuild them. In 2023, 3,948 units were destroyed compared to 4,547 units in 2022, a decrease of approx. - 13%.
Nir Shmol, CEO of Shanir and the Urban Development and Renewal Company, points out that "the decrease in construction starts in the evacuation of buildings and more in a war year that the PMD became a life-saving measure is a certificate of poverty for the government and evidence that despite the unlimited potential of urban renewal, the government is not succeeding remove the barriers.
Every day we hear about another huge plan that was approved by the planning committees and that will add thousands of apartments to the market, but in the execution test that is reflected in obtaining permits, demolishing the apartments and rebuilding, the grade is failing.
It is not possible that during the whole year only 148 old apartments were destroyed in the South District and 145 in the North District. I mean this is the number of apartments that will be rebuilt and their tenants will receive a new apartment with MMD in three or four years."
An increase in construction starts for Pinoy Binoy in Haifa and the north
Examining the data by districts reveals a mixed trend.
In the Jerusalem District, construction of 656 units began as part of demolition and reconstruction, a decrease of 42.2% compared to 2022, in the South District, construction of 207 units began as part of demolition and reconstruction, a decrease of 33.7% compared to 2022, in the Tel Aviv District, the construction of 6,137 units began. units, which do indeed constitute 53% of all construction starts in urban renewal, but also mark a decrease of 16.8% compared to last year. The Central District also recorded a slight decrease of 2.6% in construction starts. In contrast, in the Haifa district, 1,328 units began to be built in urban renewal in 2023, an increase of 38.5% compared to the previous year and in the North District construction of 422 units has begun, an increase of 8.8% compared to the previous year.
In this regard, Nir Shmol points out that this is a positive trend, but the numbers are still 60% negative in relation to the needs of renewal. The Israeli government must accelerate the pace of urban renewal By increasing the pace of the planning and licensing procedures, removing barriers, allocating additional land and creating economic viability for entrepreneurs who undertake the task of renewal.
"A drop in the ocean in relation to the scope of the problem"
Gil Goldstein, CEO of Avni Derech Urban Renewal, concluded by saying that "If we wish for this, that the engine for increasing the scope of housing units would be in the field of urban renewal, then in 2023 the scope of construction starts was only 11,490 units, which means that thousands of individual apartments have started In the process of renewal in the last year. This is a drop in the ocean in relation to the scope of the problem and at the current rate it will take decades for the country to fill in the gaps."
"The data still continue to point unequivocally to the fact that most of the renewal is concentrated in the Tel Aviv and central areas, while the extent of construction starts in the southern and northern peripheral areas is significantly lower.
53.9% of construction starts in the Tel Aviv district, 23.7% in the Central district. The south and the north of the country do not exist at all on the map of urban renewal in Israel. Which makes us the "first Israel" and the "second Israel" in this aspect as well. At this rate we will find ourselves in 2050 with the state of Tel Aviv rebuilt, and the rest of the state of Israel with 100-year-old construction (buildings prone to fall since the 1950s). A socio-economic disaster that will severely damage Israeli society."
"The government must implement a policy of "affirmative action", allocate unique resources and encourage entrepreneurs to build urban renewal in the periphery, so that in the coming years we will see a balanced distribution of new construction starts in urban renewal, both in the center and in the peripheral cities in the north and south of the country. At the same time, the government must act quickly and efficiently to solve The serious crisis in Israel that intensified in the events of Shiv'a in October."
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