Thursday, August 11, 2011

Netanyahu admits: There is no land to sell in 2012

"Last year, the Land Administration marketed all the available land inventory for residential construction."
2012 will apparently be a catastrophic year for the marketing of land by the Israel Land Administration. We know this because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly said so.

A statement entitled, "FAQs about National Housing Committees Law" lists the advantages of the law and the positive effects it will have on the housing market. One of the questions that the prime minister had to deal with, as his statement puts it, "The opponents claim that there are 160,000 housing units the building of which could begin immediately."

The full answer to this question is, "Not true. There is no substantial planning inventory of state-owned land available for residences. Last year, the Israel Land Administration and the Ministry of Housing and Construction marketed all the available land inventory for residential construction, effectively scraping the bottom of the barrel."

Cutting to the chase, Netanyahu says that the Israel Land Administration has no available land to sell in 2012.

After Israel Land Administration director Yaron Bibi met the government's target of marketing land for 25,000 housing units a year, for two years, there is concern about a severe crisis and risk of another price spiral.