“I do not intend to manage the Israeli economy on the basis of a dialogue on social networks. All the data we bring comes from the World Bank or the Central Bureau of Statistics,” Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said today (Sunday) in a press conference with Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Minister of Housing and Construction Wolf Elkin. “If I refer to the CBS data, the increase in rental prices is 1.5%, in April 2022 compared to April 2021,” he added.
The Minister of Construction and Housing, Zeev Elkin: “What has been good so far, but not enough, is taking significant steps that will affect supply and allow young couples to purchase an apartment, without being harmed by the significant price increase. “It will take years to realize the dream for an apartment, and they will pay a reasonable price today. The government is willing to give up costs it could have received from the land.”
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The first news of a new housing plan formulated by Finance Minister Lieberman was published last March, a few months after the first government housing plan announced by the government, and against the background of the double-digit rise in housing prices on an annual basis. The details of the plan have not been published in detail, and the public is left with content with fragments of information and guesswork as to its essence.
“Addition of 10,000 housing units per year”
Elkin presented the sections of the new housing plan: “Increasing the percentage of eligible people in government centers from 60% to 80% in the center of the country – adding 10,000 housing units per year.” “As of December 30, 2020, without the linkage mechanism, from which the amount of the discount of NIS 200,000 or NIS 300,000 per buyer will be derived. The discount is deepened from NIS 300,000 to a maximum of NIS 500,000.”
“In the original plan there was a certain mechanism of updating the price. Together we decided on something very dramatic,” Elkin said: “The price remains according to 2020, so all the linkage that should have been – we give it up.”
According to Elkin, the Israel Lands Council has approved promotion of framework agreements in the regional councils.
“There is currently a terrible battle going on against us”
“Amendment of the Sale Law – linking the construction input index only to the construction component, without the land component and the entrepreneurial profit. There is currently a battle of terror against us, the contractors do not like this direction. This means savings of 100,000 to 150,000 shekels for buyers,” Elkin added. According to him, the plan will include “beyond rapid and industrialized construction, saving manpower inputs and accelerating the pace of construction progress – a shortening of about a year in the schedules. Including promoting the construction of two modular construction plants in Israel.”
Another item presented by Elkin is to increase the percentage of eligibility for locals in discounted apartment auctions throughout the country from 25% to 35%, in localities in national priority B – from 32% to 40%; And in localities in national priority A. the percentage will remain as it is, 50%. Elkin referred to the definition of a local and a local in the northern and southern regions: “In these regions, local people will be defined as those who lived there for at least 18 months before the date of publication of the tender, compared to three years in other regions.”
Regarding the discounted apartment project, Elkin added: “A discounted apartment in the periphery – increasing the development subsidy by another NIS 40,000 – is an issue that will be brought to the approval of the nearest housing cabinet.”
Elkin also spoke of “a solution for the local authorities – an increase of NIS 30,000 that will be directed to the construction of public institutions in the authorities. The increase is for each housing unit.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced an increase in the remuneration of program reviewers, turning a permit reform permit into a non-voluntary but mandatory step, opening Table 2 – a decision in principle passed by the National Council, aimed at increasing settlement in the rural sector and amending planning and building regulations Housing for rent in brown land.
Rami’s director, Yanki Quint, said during the press conference that “from the beginning of 2021 until today we are in almost 140,000 housing units advertised for marketing. Also in 2022 we are at almost 40% compared to the previous year, which was a record year. “Housing units that are to be built – from 2021 we are almost 90,000 housing units.”
In April, Lieberman announced that the housing plan would be presented in May, but did not elaborate. He described it as “a dramatic plan that will make a profound change. We will not settle for partial treatment, we will address all the difficult problems that have led to the difficult situation of the housing market.” In the meantime, Minister Elkin’s plan, a “discounted apartment” program, whose first lottery has already been completed and next in line, will be launched early next month.
Despite much talk around, the publication of the new program has been delayed for several months – mainly, it seems, due to the precarious political situation. What seemed optimistic around March has become more difficult in the coming months, and lately almost impossible. It now remains to be seen which of the clauses related to it, if any, will come to fruition.