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Israel’s population surpasses the 7.5 Million mark

Lyle Plocher — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:34:10 +0000

It seems appropriate on Israel’s Independence day, to talk about the growth of the Jewish state, since 1948. The Central Bureau of Statictics released a report on Sunday that Israel has reached the nearly 7.59 million threshold, of which 5,726,000 of those individuals are Jewish.

Some other interesting figures in the CBS report included the fact that Israel now has 14 cities with a population of 100,000 or more and 6 cities have a population of 200,000 or more. Those cities are Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Ashdod and Petah Tikva. In 1948, Tel Aviv was the only city with a population over 100,000.

70% of the population are Sabras (Israeli-born) and most of them are second generation Israelis.

Source: Jpost.com

Survey says Rishon Lezion residents happiest with their neighborhoods

Lyle Plocher — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:57:50 +0000

A poll conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel, among Israelis aged 20 and up, showed that 84% of those polled were satisfied with their apartments and their general residential area.

The highest level of satisfaction with the residential area was recorded in the city of Rishon Lezion (87%), followed by Ramat Gan (86%) and Tel Aviv (85%). Ashkelon and Bnei Brak showed the lowest level of satisfaction (77%), followed by Petah Tikva and Beersheba (about 78%).

Respondents weren’t quite as happy with the cleanliness of their residential areas or with the parks and green areas near them with satisfaction rates in the 52% to 56% range.

There are some other interesting statistics in the Survey, read more at Ynetnews.com article by Shirly Sasson-Ezzer

Israel to soon reach yet another economic milestone

Lyle Plocher — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:39:19 +0000

According to an article at Ynetnews.com by Sever Plocker, Israel could reach the $30,000 per capita GDP mark as early as this summer. Plocker also states that “the overall gross domestic product, which is the economic value of all the goods and services produced in Israel, will reach roughly $230 billion”.

There are a number of enlightening and informative points made in this “must read” article, including the observation about Israel’s government debt to GDP ratio. Israel’s debt to GDP ratio is expected to go down to 70%, which is far lower than 10 of the leading industrial powers on the planet.

Read the article

Israel’s economy grew in 2009 despite global recession

Lyle Plocher — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:07:39 +0000

According to figures just released by Israel’s Ministry of Finance, Israel’s economy grew against all odds, showing a .7% growth in GDP for 2009 and a 4th Qtr growth of 4.9% in GDP. The GDP per capita, reached 102,969 NIS, the first time in Israel’s history that the 100,000 NIS bar has been passed. Other positive notes in their report, included a drop in unemployment for 2009 and a Tax Revenue increase of 20% in January 2010 over January 2009. One noteworthy benefit in 2010 of the improved financial performance of the country was the reduction of the VAT (Value added tax) in Israel by .5% to 16%.

Check out the Ministry of Finance 1st Quarter 2010 Economic Highlights Newsletter for more info.

Rishon Lezion gets largest IKEA in Middle East

Lyle Plocher — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:22:06 +0000

While not necessarily Real Estate news, the opening of the Middle East’s largest IKEA store is “newsworthy” information. Of course for some people who intend to move to Israel from Countries who already have IKEA stores, they may want to live close to IKEA who knows?

The new store covers 34,000 sq meters and includes a 500 seat kosher restaurant, Swedish food store and a felafel stand.

Anyway, read more about the new store which opened on Tuesday, March 9th in Rishon Lezion in an article at jpost.com

What do Safed and Ariel have in common?

Lyle Plocher — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:10:34 +0000

Besides the fact they are both located in Israel, the other thing they have in common, is they were both mentioned in the e-news today. Obviously, the outlying communities in Israel don’t get mentioned as much as the major cities of Israel, when it comes to online news publications in Israel like www.israelnationalnews.com , but today’s version of the publication published a couple of “good news” features.

The article about Safed, relates that the Mayor of Tsfat, Ilan Schochat and his wife Sivan are on a “fund raising” trip in the US and have successfully raised a half million dollars so far for education, social services and cultural projects. Apparently, the Mayor has also raised 1.5 Million NIS recently to upgrade the Cultural Center in Tsfat.

The article about Ariel, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dubs the “capital of Samaria”, highlights the growth of the community, which started as a “cluster of tents on a hilltop” and now has a population of 20,000 permanent residents, plus a University Center with 11,000 students. Fifty percent of the city’s residents were born outside of Israel.

Israel strangefully benefitting from global economic crisis

Lyle Plocher — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:27:07 +0000

No country in the world is immune to the problems brought on by the global economic crisis, but one country is somehow growing, changing and in strange and maybe unexpected ways, benefitting from the global economic turndown. That country is Israel.

An article appeared earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal’s online edition, by Sara Toth Stub, that points out a few interesting phenomena. According to the article, one of the results of the economic downturn in the United States, is that Jewish people who have considered moving to Israel in the past are taking this opportunity to act on longstanding desires to make Aliyah. With unemployment in the US at it’s highest level in many of our lifetimes, North American Jews are heading to Israel in record numbers.

Here are a few milestones and or recent developments to be aware of, that you may not hear much about, some of which are the result of the increased immigration to Israel in the last few years.

1. North American Aliyah is up 33% in 2009 over 2008.

2. Israel’s unemployment rate in October was 7.8%, compared to 10.2% in the US.

3. Israel has almost no exposure to Dubai debt, due to the Arab League boycott that prevents Israelis from investing there.

4. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has upgraded Israel from a “developing” to a “developed” economy.

Read Sara Toth Stub article at wsj.com

Best October ever for Tourism to Israel

Lyle Plocher — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:09:44 +0000

330,000 tourists visited Israel this past month, an all-time high for October, and a 9% increase over October 2008, Israel’s record tourism year.

This was the first month this year that tourism registered an increase over last year – and Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov attributes it largely to positioning Israel as the Holy Land with Jerusalem at its center. He also credited the idea of marketing efforts according to target audiences.

The Tourism Ministry’s goal is to increase annual tourism to Israel by a million tourists within three years.

Source: www.israelnationalnews.com

State of Economy Index jumps

Lyle Plocher — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:04:17 +0000

Source: Globes Online – Adrian Filut – October 22nd, 2009

The Consolidated State of the Economy Index, compiled by the Bank of Israel, was up sharply in September, jumping 1.2%.

The index is up for the fourth month in a row, and strengthens the sense that the economy reached a positive turning point.

204 new immigrants arrive in Israel

Lyle Plocher — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:16:46 +0000

Check out the great photo essay covering the arrival of 204 new immigrants at the Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday.

Israel National News Photo Essay

Think this guy is happy?