While the overall number of housing starts in Israel was about the same in 2009 that it was in 2008, there was movement inside the industry, according to figures released Sunday by the Central Bureau of Statistics. About 41 percent of the more than 32,000 units begun were single-family dwellings or portion of duplexes.

The central region around Tel Aviv had 34 percent of the housing starts, as compared to eight percent in Jerusalem and Haifa, yet the capital's figure marked an increase of about 36-percent, while Tel Aviv starts were down about 32 percent