Record Number of Building Permits in Jerusalem

07/01/2026

In 2025, the Municipal Planning and Building Committee approved building permits for 8,445 housing units. Yet last year, hundreds of new apartments were bought by foreign residents.

"A historic and unprecedented achievement!" proclaimed the Jerusalem Municipality's announcement on the approval of more than 8,000 housing units by the Urban Planning Committee. Last year, 8,445 building permits were approved. And the municipality, which in recent years appears to have embraced the construction of towers and the change in Jerusalem's character and skyline, has received the approval.

In the meantime, however, it seems that a significant portion of these apartments will not be inhabited. In just the last two weeks, the purchase of hundreds of homes in residential towers in urban renewal projects in the Kibbutzim and Katamonim areas was announced by Jewish communities from North America. Almost everyone estimates that these homes will remain empty for most of the year. At this time, these Jews have no intention of making aliyah, and the homes were bought for security, for the future or to serve as vacation apartments in the Holy City during their visits to Israel.

In general, last year's data show that hundreds of homes in Jerusalem have been bought by foreign residents. Although the number of new immigrants choosing to live in Jerusalem in recent years is the highest in the country, most apartment buyers have no intention of settling there. In addition, there are quite a few projects in the city aimed exclusively at foreign residents. They are advertised on dedicated websites in English or French and are aimed at Jewish communities in the diaspora.

According to municipal data, and it will surprise no one, since the general feeling is that the whole city has become one big construction site, as of today 31 neighborhoods in the city are in the process of evacuation and construction, mainly Kiryat HaYovel, Gilo, Armon Hanatziv, Kiryat Menachem, Gonenim and Talpiot.

In the last five years (2021-2025), permits have been granted for the construction of more than 36,000 new housing units, an achievement that positions Jerusalem as the national leader in the volume of building permits.

In addition, in 2025, building permits were issued for offices with a total area of approximately 142,000 square meters, including the Generic 3 complex in Kiryat Ha'Le'om (approximately 83,000 square meters) and the Geti complex in Malcha (approximately 41,000 square meters), and an excavation permit was issued for an additional building in the Gav-Yam complex, on the Hebrew University campus (approximately 42,000 square meters). In addition, building and excavation permits were issued for 738 new hotel rooms. As published in "Kol Ha'ir" just a week and a half ago.

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