How Many Public Housing Apartments Does Israel Have?
About 48,000 apartments in Israel’s public housing inventory in 2023, down from about 54,000 in 2018, on the State Comptroller’s follow-up audit.
About 48,000 apartments sat in Israel’s public housing inventory in 2023, on the follow-up audit the State Comptroller of Israel published in July 2024. The State Comptroller recorded about 54,000 apartments in the same inventory in 2018, and states that the number of public housing apartments has declined steadily over recent decades. Both readings are the Comptroller’s own audited counts of state-held apartments, and both are counts of apartments rather than of tenants or of eligible households.
| Figure | What it counts | Who published it | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 48,000 | Apartments in the public housing inventory, the audit’s own approximation | State Comptroller of Israel | 2023 |
| About 54,000 | The same inventory, earlier reading, the audit’s own approximation | State Comptroller of Israel | 2018 |
| 460 | Apartments purchased into the inventory, a figure the abstract marks “only” | State Comptroller of Israel | As reported in the July 2024 follow-up audit |
| No published figure | Eligible individuals waiting for public housing, described as continuing to rise | State Comptroller of Israel | As reported in the July 2024 follow-up audit |
| 2,857,300 | Private households in Israel, average 3.19 persons per household | Central Bureau of Statistics | 2022 |
The Comptroller counts about 48,000 public housing apartments in 2023
The State Comptroller of Israel published the 48,000 figure in chapter 204 of its July 2024 follow-up audit on the purchase and sale of public housing apartments, in the Comptroller’s own English abstract. The count is the audit institution’s own, drawn from the audited inventory of state-owned apartments let without a time limit at subsidised rent to households meeting state eligibility criteria under the Public Housing (Purchase Rights) Law. It carries the audit’s own “about”, and it is a stock of apartments.
- Apartments in the state-held inventory, on the Comptroller’s own audited count
- Let without time limit at subsidised rent to households meeting state eligibility criteria
- Not a count of tenants, residents or eligible households
- Published as an approximation, and kept as one
The stock fell from about 54,000 in 2018 to about 48,000
The State Comptroller recorded about 54,000 apartments in the inventory in 2018 and about 48,000 in 2023, two readings of the audit institution’s own inventory on the same definition, five years apart. The audit states that the number of public housing apartments has declined steadily over recent decades. Both figures are approximations, so the gap between them is a difference of about 6,000 on two rounded counts and not an exact fall.
The state purchased 460 apartments while selling more to tenants
The State Comptroller reported 460 apartments purchased into the inventory, a figure the audit institution’s own abstract marks with the word “only”. The audit records that the decline is mainly because the state sold more apartments to tenants than it purchased. The 460 is a count of purchases and is not a net change in the inventory, and the audit publishes no matching sales count in its English abstract.
- Purchases into the inventory: 460 apartments, on the Comptroller’s own audit
- Sales to tenants: stated by the audit to have exceeded purchases, with no figure given
- Net change: not published as a transaction figure, and not derivable from the 460
The audit publishes no count of households waiting for public housing
The State Comptroller states that the number of eligible individuals waiting for public housing has continued to rise, and the audit institution’s own English abstract carries no figure for that number. Nothing in the abstract gives a waiting time or an annual allocation count. The absence is recorded here and not filled from elsewhere.
- Number of eligible individuals waiting: not published in the abstract
- Waiting time to an allocation: not published in the abstract
- Apartments allocated per year: not published in the abstract
The Bureau counts 2,857,300 private households, a separate series
The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 2,857,300 private households in Israel in 2022, at an average of 3.19 persons per household, in Israel in Figures 2023. That is a different body, a different year and a different universe from the State Comptroller’s inventory of apartments, and the Bureau’s household releases carry their own reference periods, as the Ethiopian-origin release shows. Neither body publishes public housing as a share of national housing stock.
| Figure | What it counts | Period |
|---|---|---|
| 2,857,300 | Private households in Israel | 2022 |
| 3.19 | Average persons per private household | 2022 |
| 42,700 | Households of persons of Ethiopian origin, about 1.5% of all Israeli households | 2020 to 2022 average |
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics, Israel in Figures 2023 and the Sigd Festival 2023 media release, the Bureau’s own counts.
Which figures here may not be divided into one another?
The State Comptroller’s inventory counts apartments held by the state; the Central Bureau of Statistics counts private households across the whole country. They come from two bodies, on two definitions, for two different years, and neither publisher divides one into the other. About 48,000 and about 54,000 are approximations and stay approximations, so any difference taken between them is a derivation on rounded figures. The 460 purchases and the sales the audit describes are separate transaction counts, and the audit publishes a figure only for the first.
Questions readers ask
How many public housing apartments does Israel have?
The State Comptroller of Israel counted about 48,000 apartments in the public housing inventory in 2023, in a follow-up audit published in July 2024.
How many were there in 2018?
The State Comptroller recorded about 54,000 apartments in the same inventory in 2018.
Is the number rising or falling?
The State Comptroller states that the number of public housing apartments has declined steadily over recent decades, and publishes readings of about 54,000 in 2018 and about 48,000 in 2023.
Why has the stock fallen?
The State Comptroller found that the decline is mainly because the state sold more apartments to tenants than it purchased.
How many apartments did the state buy?
The State Comptroller reported 460 apartments purchased, a figure the audit marks with the word “only”.
Does the audit say how many apartments were sold?
The State Comptroller’s English abstract states that sales to tenants exceeded purchases and gives no sales count.
How many households are waiting for public housing?
The State Comptroller states that the number of eligible individuals waiting has continued to rise, and publishes no figure for it in the abstract.
What is public housing in Israeli law?
The State Comptroller describes it as state-owned apartments let without time limit at subsidised rent to households meeting state eligibility criteria, under the Public Housing (Purchase Rights) Law.
Is the 48,000 a count of people or of apartments?
The State Comptroller counted apartments in the inventory, not tenants, residents or eligible households.
How many households are there in Israel?
The Central Bureau of Statistics counted 2,857,300 private households in 2022, at an average of 3.19 persons per household.
Does Israel publish public housing as a share of all housing?
Neither the State Comptroller in the July 2024 audit nor the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel in Figures 2023 publishes that share, and the two counts come from different bodies and different years.
Is this the full audit chapter?
The State Comptroller published the figures cited here in its own English abstract of chapter 204, which is shorter than the full chapter.
What kind of audit is it?
The State Comptroller published it as a follow-up audit, so its findings concern what had and had not been corrected since the previous audit of the same subject.
Sources
- Central Bureau of Statistics, 2023. The Population of Ethiopian Origin in Israel. Selected Data Published on the Occasion of the Sigd Festival 2023. cbs.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- Central Bureau of Statistics, 2024. Israel in Figures 2023. Selected Data From the Statistical Abstract of Israel. cbs.gov.il. Official or primary record.
- State Comptroller of Israel, 2024. Purchase and Sale of Public Housing Apartments, Follow-up Audit. Chapter 204, Ministry of Construction and Housing, English abstract, July 2024. library.mevaker.gov.il. Official or primary record.
