Housing Ministry Resets Discount Apartment Portal Ahead of 2027 Lotteries
The Ministry of Construction and Housing temporarily closed the "Apartment on Discount" portal to adjust participant filters, prioritizing IDF reservists with a 75% quota for upcoming 2027 housing lotteries.
Ministry of Construction and Housing Shuts Down "Apartment on Discount" Website
The Ministry of Construction and Housing recently announced the temporary closure of the "Apartment on Discount" (Dira BeHana) website. The move was initiated to recalculate the list of eligible candidates and adjust the platform following new directives regarding military service criteria.
Following instructions to exclude individuals who did not serve in the IDF from upcoming housing lotteries, administrators manually updated participant data to filter out ineligible applicants. The website resumed operations ahead of the holiday, featuring minor system adjustments to streamline future rounds.
Upcoming Lotteries and Political Timeline
Ministry officials estimate that the next major housing lottery will take place around the beginning of 2027. Although originally scheduled for late 2026, the upcoming Knesset elections on October 27, 2026, have introduced scheduling uncertainties regarding the formation of a new coalition and the appointment of a new Minister of Construction and Housing.
"The ministry will prepare the new lottery toward the end of the year, but it can only take effect once a new government is established," official sources noted.
The upcoming housing rounds will feature thousands of new apartments across various cities, including Rishon LeZion, Ariel, Umm al-Fahm, Afula, Nazareth, and Tur'an, alongside major peripheral locations such as Beit Shemesh, Sderot, Kiryat Shmona, Mitzpe Ramon, Safed, Sakhnin, Karmiel, Nahariya, and the new Yoni Netanyahu neighborhood in Dimona.
Shifts in Reservist Allocation
The ministry acknowledges that public demand patterns may shift. While previous lotteries saw record highs with over 114,000 applicants for 7,922 apartments in the 11th lottery round held last July, non-reservists face significantly lower winning odds. Reservists will now be allocated 75% of winning slots, up from 50% previously and a stark contrast to pre-war parity.
