:Housing in Israel
History
File:Tel Aviv carrying bricks.jpg, 1920-1930]]
After the establishment of the State of Israel, hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world began immigrating to the new state. Many were housed in temporary camps known as ma'abarot, where they lived in huts, tents, and packing crates until permanent housing could be built. In September 1948, the Ministry of Labor established a National Housing Department to supervise development on a nationwide scale. The Amidar housing company was founded that year and plans were drawn up for the construction of 16,000 housing units in and around the country's urban centers. The Absorption Department of the Jewish Agency imported 6,000 cabins from Sweden for temporary accommodation.Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After, Dvora Hacohen, Syracuse University Press, 2003, pp.130-131
In cities and development towns all over the country, rows of concrete tenements began to be hastily erected to address the severe housing shortage.Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel, edited by Raphael Patai, Herzl Press, McGraw, New York, 1971 "Architecture and Town Planning in Israel," Vol. 1, pp. 71-76 These government-funded low-cost housing projects were known as shikunim. [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/Architecture/Jeruarchitecture1948.html Jerusalem Architecture since 1948]
In the late 2000s and 2010, the real-estate prices in Israel appeared to be inflated compared to the long-term average, other developed economies, rents and average income. This real estate bubble was blamed on the country-wide housing shortage.{{cite web |url=http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000637719&fid=1124 |title="We are not solving the severe housing shortage." |date=11 April 2011 |publisher=Globes |author=Yossi Nissan |accessdate=2011-07-14}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2011/Cabinet_communique_19_Jun_2011.htm?DisplayMode=print |title=Cabinet communique |date=19 June 2011 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) |author= cabinet secretariat |accessdate=2011-07-14}} However, many economists and investors do not see it as a bubble.{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126811.html |title=Is the housing bubble really just a lot of babble? - Haaretz - Israel News |website=www.haaretz.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409005651/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1126811.html |archive-date=2010-04-09}}
In response to the global economic recession in 2008, Israel's central bank governor, Stanley Fischer, lowered interest rates to an all-time low of 0.5%. That resulted in prices rising very fast in 2009, after rising steadily in the preceding decade.{{Cite web |url=http://archive.globes.co.il/searchgl/Housing%20prices%20continue%20to%20rise_h_hd_2L34nE3KoCrmnC30mDJ8oE3OoBcXqRMm0.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721095845/http://archive.globes.co.il/searchgl/Housing%20prices%20continue%20to%20rise_h_hd_2L34nE3KoCrmnC30mDJ8oE3OoBcXqRMm0.html |archive-date=2011-07-21 |url-status=dead }}
Most mortgages taken out in 2007–2009 were adjustable-rate mortgages pegged to the prime rate, which at the low was 1.75%.{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102316.html |title=Mortgage market booming while interest rates are low - Haaretz - Israel News |website=www.haaretz.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090726111303/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1102316.html |archive-date=2009-07-26}}
Home ownership
In 2012, 67.9% of Israelis lived in homes that they owned and 26.9% in rented homes.{{cite journal|url=http://www.themarker.com/career/1.2163806|title=Households in 2012: In Which City Do People Earn the Most?|journal=TheMarker|author=Tali Heruti-Sover|date=November 12, 2013|accessdate=November 13, 2013}}
See also
References
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External links
- [https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Middle-East/Israel/Price-History Israel's housing market under pressure]
- [https://www.immoisrael.com/blog/category/statistics Insights on Israel's Real Estate Market]