Housing in Israel refers to the history of

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History

After the establishment of the State of Israel, hundreds of thousands of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

from all over the world began immigrating to the new state. Many were housed in temporary camps known as

ma'abarot Ma'abarot (, singular: Ma'abara ) were immigrant and refugee absorption camps established in Israel in the 1950s, constituting one of the largest public projects planned by the state to implement its sociospatial and housing policies. The ma' ...

, 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 The Jewish Agency for Israel (), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). As an ...

imported 6,000 cabins from Sweden for temporary accommodation. In cities and

development town Development towns (, ''Ayarat Pitu'ah'') were new settlements built in Israel during the 1950s in order to provide permanent housing for a large influx of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries, Holocaust survivors from Europe and other new immig ...

s all over the country, rows of concrete tenements began to be hastily erected to address the severe housing shortage. These government-funded low-cost housing projects were known as ''shikunim.'' 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 A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for Residential area, residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets, and it typically follows a land boom or reduced in ...

was blamed on the country-wide housing shortage. However, many economists and

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

s do not see it as a bubble. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, Israel's central bank governor, Stanley Fischer, lowered

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

s to an all-time low of 0.5%. That resulted in prices rising very fast in 2009, after rising steadily in the preceding decade. Most

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pur ...

taken out in 2007–2009 were adjustable-rate mortgages pegged to the prime rate, which at the low was 1.75%.

Home ownership

In 2012, 67.9% of Israelis lived in homes that they owned and 26.9% in rented homes.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Israel's housing market under pressure

Insights on Israel's Real Estate Market
Real estate bubbles 2011 Israeli social justice protests

History

Home ownership

See also

References

External links