The real estate bubble that began in 2003 burst in the summer of 2007 with the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, which led to the global credit crunch and worst crises in the financial markets and real economies in 80 years. The real estate collapse left a wasteland in its wake, devastating the shareholders and bondholders of companies.
The current companies in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) Real Estate 15 Index had an aggregate market cap of NIS 13 billion at the end of 2008, less than half the value of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY) alone - the leading company in the index - which had a market cap of NIS 28.5 billion at its peak in May 2007.
