Don't move: The national average time to wait for a building permit increased by four months between 2021-2022 to about 3 years and four months - this is according to a special test conducted for "Israel Hayom" by the Madalen real estate website towards the end of the calendar year. For comparison, the average waiting time It takes about 150 days to get a building permit in the OECD countries, according to the industry. In the US, for example, it is 3-4 months, and in some European countries the waiting time can be as long as a year or several months.
The long wait for building permits is a critical factor in the increase in apartment prices, which have jumped by more than 20% in the last year: while the demand for apartments is increasing, contractors are waiting years to receive a building permit from the municipalities.
Photo: Moshe Shay // Boredom is not a curse.
West Rishon Lezion,
Where was the shortest?
In order to carry out the inspection, the Madelan website tracked the data from the moment a permit application was submitted until Form 4 was issued in the 10 largest cities.
The analysis of the data shows that the wait for a permit in Ramat Gan has indeed shortened by about a month, but since this is a city where the waiting time for a permit is one of the longest in Israel, the decrease from 5.11 years to "only" 5 years represents a tiny decrease of less than 5% between 2021 and - 2022.
This year, no new construction permit applications were submitted in the city, but the waiting time for an urban renewal permit decreased by almost three months to 1,810 days, which is almost 5 years - perhaps because the number of projects was cut in half.
You will find a similar waiting time for obtaining building permits in urban renewal projects (Pinoy-Binui and TMA 38) in Ashdod - 1,853 days. In third place in Madeleine's analysis is Bat Yam with 1,532 days.
The city where the waiting time for construction permits was shortened most significantly is Rishon Lezion, but on the other hand, the number of projects in it also decreased by half.
If in 2021 you had to wait 3.5 years for a building permit, in 2022 the waiting time will decrease by over 18% to 2.8 years.
As mentioned, in 2021 the number of projects in Rishon Lezion was 45 and in 2022 there are only 21 projects, which can explain the reason for the drastically shortened waiting time.
Tal Kopel, photo: Orit Panini
Kiryat Malachi in Brash
In Kiryat Malachi you will receive the building permit for a new apartment the fastest, where the waiting time for the permit is only 169 days, which is 5.5 months.
This is a significant shortening of the waiting time, which was about a full year in 2021.
In Givatayim, you will have to be very patient in obtaining a building permit, both when it comes to new construction and TAMA and evacuation-construction projects. The waiting time for a permit for new construction in the city is 4.8 years for only three projects. In urban renewal, you will have to wait even longer - over 6 years for the permit.
According to Tal Kopel, CEO of Madelan, "shortening the waiting time for building permits is an important and necessary part of solving the housing crisis in Israel, and everyone agrees that without it the situation will not improve.
Unfortunately, the test we conducted shows that the national average time to wait for a permit actually increased, and this is a worrisome trend, because at that time apartment prices jumped even more, and a clear picture was created of supply not catching up with demand.
"An exception in this picture is Rishon Lezion, where the waiting time for a permit decreased by almost eight months, to under 3 years. On the other hand, in Ashdod, the waiting time for a permit increased by almost 500 days, that is, it was extended by a year and almost four months, to a time of over 5 years ".
Voluntary reform
The "self-licensing" reform, which makes it possible to shorten the waiting times for a building permit by giving authorities to issue building permits to architects as well, was launched two months ago, but it is voluntary, and some of the large municipalities (for example, Tel Aviv) have decided not to adopt the move.
Raul Sargo, president of the Ha'aretz Construction Contractors Association, photo: PR
"The bleak picture that emerges from the data is the result of years of neglect of the field of construction licensing in the local government," Raul Sargo, president of the Ha'aretz Builders Contractors Association, told Israel Hayom.
"The state established a clear course that went into effect last summer that allows the time for the permit to be dramatically shortened by self-licensing to be performed by an architect authorized by the state, but the municipalities are not ready to approve it.
"We must not all forget that this is a house that people need so much. It was not built for many years because of a bureaucratic failure. These are people's lives and we are all running out of time."
Why are the municipalities dragging their feet in issuing building permits, and more so at the height of the housing crisis in Israel?
The answer in most cases is a lack of manpower.
However, even when the state found a solution in the form of self-licensing, this, as stated, does not happen.
Tel Aviv city architect Udi Carmeli claimed at the annual real estate conference of the Tel Aviv District and Central Contractors and Builders Association that the situation in the planning committees is catastrophic, there is no manpower, and the very fact that issuing a permit takes about three years is a disgrace.
Carmeli stated in connection with the self-licensing that in its current form the reform will not work.
"We need to leave some responsibility to the governmental institutions to allow this system to move."
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