Popping up (illustration)
Construction volume in 2008 unchanged
Central Bureau of Statistics sums up building starts across Israel for passing year, says ground broke on 30,480 housing units, land allocation up 5%
Building starts in across Israel in 2008 did not differ much from those of 2007 and numbered 30,480 housing units, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said Thursday.
According to the data, 40% of the housing units currently under construction in Israel are of buildings one to two stories high, meaning detached and semi-detached buildings. Overall, 59,000 such housing units were completed in 2008 – the same as in 2007.
The CBS also noted that 2008 saw the completion of 30,210 apartments – a 2.8% rise compared to 2007. Within that, central Israel saw the biggest spike in construction (29%), while the Haifa district saw only a 7% rise.
Overall construction in Jerusalem and Israel's northern and southern regions dropped, slipping 26.8%, 15.9% and 13.1% respectively.
The overall area made available for construction in 2008 came to 14 million square meters (some 150.7 million square feet) – a 5% increase from 2007. Out of that, 74% were allocated for residential construction and 26% for commercial construction.
