Israelis sick of politicians' hot air as housing bubble expands

In the summer of 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt the ground under him shake: Hundreds of thousands of Israelis filled the streets in protest over the cost of living and the housing crisis. The number of demonstrators from all walks of life grew with each week, in what became the largest popular protest in the history of the State of Israel.

In his efforts to stop the protest, which threatened to unseat him, in July Netanyahu convened a press conference with Minister of Housing Ariel Atias (Shas) and Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz (Likud) at his sides.

One could spend a week recalling all the promises and big schemes formulated ad hoc for the emergency plan to lower housing prices, such as authorizing the construction of 50,000 new housing units or ensuring the availability of rent-controlled apartments. At the press conference, Netanyahu flattered himself in saying that he recognized the problem even before he became prime minister for the second time (2009), and blamed previous governments for mistakes and attempts to implement wrongheaded solutions. But the plan he presented turned out to be no more than spin meant to calm the waters. Netanyahu survived, and was elected two more times as prime minister.

More than five years have passed since then, and by all measures, the cost of housing has stubbornly continued to rise. In the past year alone, prices rose by 9%, according to the report published in late November by the public land appraiser summing up the third quarter of 2016.