Israel Adopts New Standard for Calculating Apartment Sizes

Israel's Council of Real Estate Appraisers, under the Ministry of Justice, has approved a new, binding standard for defining apartment size, aiming to reduce disputes and increase transparency for homebuyers. The new standard, designated 9.1, replaces the previous standard 9.0 and addresses lingering professional disagreements regarding apartment measurement methods in Israel.

The updated standard follows a year-long effort by a professional committee comprising representatives from government ministries and the private sector. The Ministry of Justice anticipates that this uniform definition will enhance certainty in the real estate market, decrease legal and bureaucratic proceedings, and ensure greater transparency for apartment buyers.

Historically, Israel has used multiple methods for measuring apartment areas, leading to inconsistencies. Disagreements often arose over whether to include walls and covered balconies in the total area, or how to measure internal staircases. While standard 9.0, approved in 2006, aimed to standardize measurements and was adopted by the Land Registration and Survey Department and incorporated into the Sale of Apartments Law, some ambiguities remained.

These ambiguities included how to measure shared walls with common areas like stairwells, attic spaces, and retaining walls in hillside apartments. These issues allowed for interpretation, causing minor discrepancies in measurements. Consequently, the Valuation Standards Committee formed a professional team, including representatives from various government bodies and the Association of Contractors and Builders, to develop the updated standard 9.1.

The new standard 9.1 is intended to close these remaining gaps, providing appraisers, developers, authorities, and homebuyers with a clearer, unified basis for determining apartment sizes.