The rise in Israel’s real estate prices: sociodemographic aspects

The conspicuous rise in Israel’s housing prices from 2008 to date, after the stable prices in the early 2000s, has raised concerns of a property bubble in the Israeli economy. The grave effects of real estate bubbles that emerged in various countries around the world throughout history and led to severe long-term economic crises within the country and elsewhere add to the concern about such occurrences in the Israeli economy. This article focuses on the current effects of the real estate bubble on Israeli society at the preliminary stage, and examines the sociodemographic implications of Israel’s rise in housing prices and its impact on several social parameters, such as the average number of members in a household, Israel’s residential density, age at marriage, the extent of emigration from the country among the young, the population’s spread to peripheral areas, the inequality index, and more.