If buying's affordable there's no need to rent. A healthy figure according to economists is up to x3 times a person's annual income. In Australia a median housed price in an average area is now x9 a person's annual income ($650,000; median income $70,000). Australians earn high salaries but spend nearly half their earnings for 25 years to pay off a mortgage.

Most countries have rental communities in their cities too.Take Florida,Texas, for example, every city there is full of communities just built for that purpose, same in other states as well. We need that here as well.

:) hehe Thanks a lot for the info. The situation in Israel is so absurd that a person's average annual income revolves around 35-40 K USD and a 2 bedroom house costs about 600 K USD. Now do the math! :)(

I work in the affordable housing industry here in the USA. the yardstick herefor affordability is 30% of income, with allowances made for family size etc. That 30%' by the way, includes allowances for average utility costs. The whole affordability process is a bureaucratic maze, for the tenant as well as the owner-developer, which eats up a lot of the costs. That bureaucracy would make the Israeli bureaucracy look like child's play, by the way. Despite the efforts of the federal, state, and local governments, tho, there's still a huge need need for more, especially in these times. I'd be interested in seeing how this develops in Israel. When I first made Aliyah, actually, i received a subsidized unit, thru Amidar.

It is about 1 million shekels for a smallest/livable family apartment in Tel-Aviv and around 7,000 is the average monthly salary.

Most Israelis I know who are working long long days pay closer to 50% for their small depressing rented apartments and live in eternal anxiety and fear of next years cruel greedy landlord's invevitable rent raise.

In UK 40% of average monthly income goes to rent or repayment for morgage as well

Thats all you hear about is housing in Israel. Has anyone in Israel been to the grocery store lately? Or has any one been to the gas station or to Mcdonald's? Housing is expensive in Israel but so is everything else. What is really outragous is the price of gasoline, cars, food, toys, shoes, clothing etc. You go to a decent restuarant to eat a good quality burger it is just too expensive. I want to toss my cookies every time I buy (throw up) something or even stop and have a beer but thats $8.00 for a draft from the keg.

Look folks, there are rentals and there are rentals, mortgages and mortgages. The average US home has fallen considerably since the "bubble" burst here. Im not sure of the figure, but its about 230,000. Average family income is about 70,000. But there are hundreds of thosuands of peopel who make over 1m year. Again, not your average. In some neighborhoods, mortgages are closer to 1m however. Location, location,, locatio0n. Forget averages. Sure, one can live in South/Central LA/Pacoima, New Orleans, for less. In NYCity, Manhattans rents are over 3,000 for one bedrooms..but coops are much less. Try getting into one however Mean, mode and median..look at the figures for Israel and other developed countries. Israel is still a very,very small country, with little leverage in the global economy. Are there any auto plants? There is no Canada or Mexico adjacent. It has no oil or natural gas ( until Tamir is mined). But like everything else, the outrageous bureaucracy stalls progress to long waits. Also the political situation is horrendous. Hez is viewing terrorizing any sea mining. One IDFer consumes all of Israel's energy. While Hamas violated all his rights and used Shalit as a psychological tactic ( and succeeded), Israelii protests are kind of well, stupid. . (Hamas already says that all deported will return to Gaza. So much for Israeli conditions, never taken seriously by its enemies). ). Israel needs to buy cars in bulk from abroad..small cars...with 40mpg as a minimum. Use buses, galore and vans ( here in California there are numerous small bus services). Regarding clothing and other necessities..purchasing wisely is important. Stop frill buying...have a few basics. 1m Charedi are costing Israeli society billions of shekels..people who dont work, live on charity..devote their time and effort to doing what clerics should. Interms of the army...others must compensate for their relunctance. And then there is the question of fairness. But primarily, Israel's defense budget / GDP is huge and for good reason. That MUST be taken into consideration. Israeli Jews are still targets for Arab terrorism..and hopes to occupy Tel Aviv and Jerusaelm (West). I ask, what does it cost to continually utilize its police forces, border guards nd soldiers? How much does it cost to incarcerate one terrorist for a lifetime, vs a simple 12.00 hangmans noose? But that is for another post.

Edward's $650K ($US & $Au is at parity) price for a 3 bed.house on the outer area's of Sydney more than 50kms from city centre, lousy public transport therefore if you work in the centre of the city it will be a 2 hr + commute each way (if there are no accidents or breakdowns), $100s each month for motorway tolls, poor access to education etc. The cost of a 3 bed. house near the centre of Sydney, close to work, good schools, culture etc is from $1-2M + & a 2 bed apartment near the centre of Syney is fm $au800K, in the centre of sydney 2 beds fm $au1M. Today's young couples are far from able to afford this price. With a medium annual income of $au70K they will have to move to the outer fringes of Sydney and pay 9x of annual income to live out in the sticks The price of a 3 room (inc living room) in centre TA is around $us680 K

I spend at least 40 % of my salary for housing and utilities, probably more like 50 % ! Not renting a palace, just a simple apartment in Germany for 4 people, and I know it is much worse in Munich for example. Your calculation doesn't mean much unless you also list all the other expenses.

I moved to Arad and pay $355 a month for a good 3 room (2 bedroom) apartment. The same in Jerusalem would cost what $1000.00 ? The Israelis you know sound like occupy wall street protesters! Similar to students in Tel Aviv. Let them spend an hour a day traveling in to Tel Aviv and an hour back again.