About 60% of winners in the latest round of Israel's housing lottery are active Israel Defense Forces reservists, according to reporting on Sunday.
The housing lottery, a government initiative that provides apartments to eligible applicants at discounted prices, has now completed its 11th consecutive round. The Ministry of Construction and Housing began sending winning notifications on Sunday morning to 7,922 households selected from 114,848 total applicants, representing roughly 6.9% of registered households.
In a first for the program, preference was given to reserve soldiers who have been participating in the ongoing war since Oct. 7, 2023, with approximately 50% of the apartments reserved for active reservists. About half of the apartments allocated to reservists were designated for combat soldiers, in line with the Israel Land Authority Council's decision.
A total of 25,394 reservists registered for the lottery, with 4,734 selected - nearly one in every five reservist applicants. Reservists won the right to buy 60% of the apartments rather than just the 50% allocated specifically to them because they remain eligible to apply for the general lottery pool.