According to an article in Yediot Aharonot  on the 21st July 2008 building apartments is becoming so expensive for contractors and is causing them to stop developing new building projects. It is believed that within 8 months there will be no more new apartments to buy in the center of Israel and 10 months for North Israel.  This will mean that the cost of new apartments will rise. The reasons include low dollar, high costs of building materials, demand to buy higher than the building rate and the bureaucracy of getting building permits. At present there are only 500 new apartments ready to be sold at present and these will cause a surge in prices. The biggest demand for new apartments are in Netanya, Modiin, Gan Yavne, Hod Hasharon and Petach Tikvah.