Preliminary data from the Central Bureau of Statistics‘s Household Survey reveals that the number of renting households in Israel reached 950,000 in 2022. Notably, the gap between income groups remains stark, with 51.3% of households in the lowest income decile renting, compared to only 18.2% in the top decile.
By Doron Broitman, Nadlan Center
The share of renters in Israel continues to rise steadily, with about a third of all households now renting. According to preliminary data from the 2022 Household Survey—unpublished until now by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) and obtained by the Real Estate Center—32.4% of Israeli households, or 946,000 households, lived in rented accommodation during that year.
This marks an increase of two percentage points from 2019, when 30.4% of households rented. Over these three years, 125,000 households have entered the rental market, adding roughly 338,000 people (based on an average of 2.7 persons per household) to the rental pool.
The data also reflect the social gap between high-income and low-income earners. Thus, as the income decile increases (according to net income per standard capita), the share of those living in rentals decreases. In the lowest income decile 1, the share of those living in rental housing in 2022 was 51.3% of households. In contrast, in income decile 10, the highest was only 18.2% of households that lived in rented apartments that year. At the same time, the increase in the share of households living in rented accommodation compared with 2019 characterizes all income deciles, except for the 6th decile, where there was a decline. The highest increase was recorded in income decile 5, where the share of those living in rented apartments increased by about nine percentage points, from a rate of 31% in 2019 to about 40% in 2022.
The comparison to 2019 is crucial due to a change in how the Central Bureau of Statistics estimates rental data, making it impossible to compare 2022 figures with earlier years. However, comparisons to prior household surveys using older methods show that renting has been on an upward trend for years. In 2008, 25% of households rented, rising to 28% by 2018. Given rising home prices and the growing difficulty of purchasing property in Israel, it seems likely this trend will continue.
830,000 apartments in Israel’s rental market
Data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics in March 2023 further confirm this long-term trend. The figures drawn from municipal property tax data indicate that the number of rental apartments in 2013 stood at 572,000, or 24.3% of all apartments. By 2023, that number had grown to 829,000, representing 28.6% of all apartments in Israel.
Most rental properties, 79.9%, are owned by private individuals. Public housing companies manage 6.9%, kibbutzim, and moshavim account for 5%, companies handle 8.3%, and other entities such as student dormitories, associations, and embassies manage the remaining 1.4%.
What about rental prices?
Between December 2019 and December 2022, the rent index in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 6.4%. From July 2019 to July 2024, the rent index increased by 15.4%. However, during this same period, the price of homes for purchase saw a much sharper rise of 41.9%, with the cost of new apartments climbing 31.2%.
As of Q2 2024, the average monthly rent in Israel was NIS 4,677, reflecting a 4.4% rise from the previous quarter. In Tel Aviv-Yafo, the average rent is NIS 6,979; in Jerusalem, it is NIS 4,971; in Haifa, it is NIS 3,154; and in Beer Sheva, the lowest among the major cities, it is NIS 2,918.
