Tender "Wave" for 7,390 Housing Units Focuses on Periphery
The Israel Land Authority is closing tenders for 7,390 housing units this week. All plots are located in the periphery, with no tenders in high-demand areas or major cities.
A "wave" of tenders, unusual for the current year—which is characterized by a rather slow pace of marketing—is expected to reach the closing stage this week. During this wave, the Israel Land Authority will market approximately 7,390 housing units, a high number even in "normal" times and certainly for the current year. Despite the large number of housing units, none of the lands being marketed are located in high-demand areas or in one of Israel's four largest cities.
We recall that the current year at the Israel Land Authority has been quite weak, partly against the backdrop of the end of the previous CEO's term, Adv. Yanki Quint, at the end of last year and the prolonged procedures in selecting a replacement. Yehuda Eliyahu was officially appointed to the position only last May, but following petitions against the appointment, the Supreme Court canceled it, and in practice, the Authority is still functioning without a permanent CEO. A new search committee is currently underway, but in the meantime, the conduct regarding land marketing is lacking, to say the least.
Recently, quite a few reports have been published about the decline in the pace of tender marketing this year, and here at Globes, we reported on the scarcity of tenders published in the Tel Aviv area as evidence of very low activity, especially in high-demand areas. Now, the "wave" of tenders expected to close this week serves as further evidence of this.
12 Tenders in the North and South Regions
The 12 tenders expected to close this week are all planned for this Wednesday. The number of 7,390 housing units is unusual even compared to previous years in terms of the amount marketed in one day, and especially in relation to the current year: since the beginning of the year, at most about 2,000 housing units were marketed in a single day.
The prominent tenders in this wave are in Sderot, within the scope of TAMAL 1211, where 2,686 housing units will be marketed; 1,002 housing units in the new Afikey HaNahal neighborhood in Ofakim; another 544 units in phase B of the same neighborhood; 618 units in Safed (Complex 8); 562 units in the Har Yona G neighborhood in Nof HaGalil; and 436 units in the Peras neighborhood in Ma'alot-Tarshiha. Tenders will also be marketed in Nahariya, Sakhnin, Kiryat Shmona, Arad, and Mitzpe Ramon. All 12 tenders are for lands in the North and South regions, with no tenders in the Tel Aviv, Center, or Jerusalem regions.
Since the beginning of the year, only seven new land tenders were published in the Tel Aviv region, 19 in the Center region, and 23 in the Jerusalem region. In terms of closed tenders, only one was completed in Tel Aviv, 11 in the Center, and 15 in Jerusalem.
Earlier this week, six more tenders were successfully closed, all outside high-demand areas. Among these are four tenders for 571 housing units in the periphery: in Karmiel, Hatzor HaGlilit, Sderot, and Yeruham. Additionally, two tenders were closed in Beit Shemesh for commercial, office, and industrial uses.
