Size does matter: A study done by the consulting and management company AVIV AMCG for the Planning Administration at the Ministry of Finance, examined the mix of apartments in Beer Sheva in 2011 compared to 2020.
The research shows that in the last decade there is a clear trend of a significant increase in the proportion of very large apartments (130 square meters and above), which rose from 19% of the total number of apartments in the city in 2011 to 27% in 2020.
This, along with a moderate decrease in the proportion of the other size groups: the small apartments up to 70 square meters (from 23% to 21%), the medium-sized ones 70-90 square meters (from 25% to 22%) and the medium-large ones ( from 19% to 17%).
The reason for this is related to two parallel processes: one is the addition of over 9,300 new housing units with a size of 110 square meters and more (of which approximately 6,000 units are 150+ square meters in size), and the second is the removal of approximately 860 apartments of medium and small sizes, Most likely as part of expansion and/or renewal processes.
In this way, the proportion of the very large apartments was unusually increased to the point of redesigning the urban mix.
Although there is not always a direct relationship between the size of the household and the size of the apartment, it can be assumed that small households (1-2 persons) are expected to be satisfied with small apartments and large households with large apartments.
The analysis of the mix of apartment sizes in Be’er Sheva in relation to the cities of the region presents an interesting picture. Contrary to expectations, the capital of the Negev is characterized by a mix relatively biased towards large apartments, while its satellite cities are characterized by a more balanced mix between small and large apartments.
For example, the leader in the proportion of apartments up to 70 square meters is Dimona (28%), while in Be’er Sheva their proportion reaches only about 21%. In the 70-90 square meter size group, the leaders are Arad (30%), Dimona (27%) and Ofakim (24.5%), while their rate in Be’er Sheva is relatively low (21.7%).
On the other hand, the proportion of apartments larger than 110 square meters reaches over 40% in Be’er Sheva – similar to Ofakim (42%), and not far from Nitiv (47%), while Dimona and Arad record a low proportion of apartments of this size (34% and 30% respectively).
The reason for this is probably related to the characteristics of residential construction in the capital of the Negev in recent decades, which, unlike cities of this size, include a large supply of detached houses, among other things with the intention of competing with sought-after suburbs such as Omar, Mitar, Lehavim and other communal and rural settlements.