ABSTRACT
A characteristic feature of the latest Palestinian immigration is the large number of well-to-do Jews it brings into the country. A majority of them settle in the cities, particularly in Tel Aviv. The rapid growth in urban population has been accompanied by extensive building operations. A lively traffic in building sites set in, which soon developed into speculation on an abnormally large scale. The high price of building sites in Tel Aviv is due not so much to increased intrinsic value as to artificial stimulation. The heavy demand, the unregulated buying and selling inside the Jewish camp, more particularly the buying from non-Jews, the army of large and small Jewish brokers who pay the non-Jewish landlords whatever they choose to ask because of their certainty of reimbursement in the Tel Aviv “real estate market,” all these factors have sent prices soaring. Speculation has many other far-reaching social consequences, because it determines building methods, housing facilities, and living conditions.
