The Central Bureau of Statistics announced there were 48,310 apartment construction starts in Israel during the last 12 months. This is compared to 49,330 construction starts over the course of the previous 12 months; a drop of 2.1%. During the last 12 months, 52,530 apartments were completed; which represents a 10.2% growth from the 47,670 apartments completed in the previous 12 months. However, in the first three months of 2019 there was a 4.4% drop in the number of building starts.
There were strong increases in construction in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the West Bank last year — with Tel Aviv showing a boost of 53% in building starts (which represents 24.1% of the building in the country). Jerusalem showed a 19.1% increase (which represents 9.1% of the building). The West Bank, which represents 4.8% of the building, showed a 42.3% increase. The greatest drop in building starts was seen in the North. Haifa, which represents 12.9% of the building dropped 29.9%; while the rest of North, which represents 11.4% of the housing starts in the country, dropped 22.6%.
