The volume of construction starts in the 12 months until March 2020 decreased by 2.3%

The volume of construction starts in the 12 months between April 2019 and March 2020 decreased by 2.3% compared to the 12 months preceding the period under review; This is according to the CBS data released Thursday. This is a period whose end was marked by the beginning of the restrictions in the economy due to the spread of the Corona, whose real implications can only be understood in the summary of May-June.
During the period examined by the CBS, the construction of approximately 51,000 apartments began, and after 2019 was characterized by a mixed trend and in 2018 there was a 3.2% increase in construction starts. Construction starts increased by 23.5%, 9.3%, and 38.3%, respectively. 
The city with the highest volume of construction during this period is Tel Aviv, with 3,575 apartments (down 2.6%), followed by Jerusalem's 2,860 apartments (up 0.4%). Increases in construction starts were recorded in the cities: Kiryat Yam, Or Akiva, Beer Yaakov, Beit Shemesh, Shoham and Ashkelon.
The figures also show that the share of a residential price plan for all dwellings built during this period was 25.6%, an increase of 4.1% compared to the previous 12 months. Most of the apartments were built in the southern districts (46.6%), Jerusalem (27.6%) and the north (25.1%).
A more significant change can be seen in the construction finishing data: Thus, in the 12 months examined there was a 13.1% decrease compared to the previous 12 months, and a total of 48.2 thousand apartments were completed. Decreases in construction have already begun in the fourth quarter of 2018, and during all the quarters since then, there has been an average decline of 3.4%, compared with an increase of 4.9% in the quarter recorded from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018. Thus, and the difficulty of the contracting companies to complete projects.
By region, it can be seen that declines in construction have occurred in all districts, except in Central District. The sharpest decline was recorded in Judea and Samaria (41%), followed by: Jerusalem (15%), Northern (17%), Haifa (14.7%), Southern (30%) and TA (5%). As of the end of March 2020, the number of apartments under active construction stood at 119.4 thousand, compared with 117 thousand at the end of March 2019.
Another interesting statistic indicates that the non-residential building area fell sharply by 19.1%, while the residential area increased by 3.1%. This indicates that even before the Coruna, the developers chose to slow down the pace of construction of other uses such as employment and trade, probably for fear of supply surplus.
The volume of housing in the area of ​​urban renewal registered a slight increase of 0.4%, compared with the previous 12 months - and stood at 7,010 apartments. About half of the apartments were built in the 38/2 (3,690) TAMA, an increase of about 15.8% in this segment of all dwellings built as part of urban renewal. As expected, most of the apartments were built in the center of the country, in Tel Aviv (65.6%) and in Central District (18.9). %).
In projects where the addition of apartments is to existing buildings, 3,870 housing units were built, an increase of 8.2% compared to the previous 12 months. The increase in the number of apartments can be attributed to the expected completion of the October 38, 2022 plan, which has led many buildings to promote Construction quickly.