See The Dollar Effect on Israel’s Real Estate Market:

For the first time in four years it looks like there is a reason for prices to drop in the attractive Israeli real estate market. The main culprit is the low dollar. Foreign buyers from the US may be deterred from buying due to the combination of high prices and a weak dollar. Add to that the real estate decline in America which prevents buyers from selling their American properties in order to purchase expensive Israeli homes. The real estate decline in the USA may also tempt American investors to redirect their interests from properties in Israel to the American housing market, where properties are relatively cheaper and long term profits are almost guaranteed.

As someone directly affected by this, I can feel the buyer’s pain. In our case though, we did get pretty lucky, since we made the bulk of our pre-mortgage house payments back in the good old days when the exchange rate was 4.2+. At the time, I had been a little bit upset, since a few months prior, the exchange rate had been around 4.5-4.6. Now of course, I am pretty thankful that we got in when we did.

As people recognize the strength of the Shekel and see it as a stable currency, you will see more and more homes and apartments advertised in Shekalim. The shekel is no longer a weak, inflation-prone currency that cannot be trusted. It is now internationally traded, and is one of the best performing currencies in the world over the past couple of years. When those reasons had applied, people were right in using dollars as the main currency. Now, there is no reason to do so (and as the above article highlights, it can be very bad for business). (I do find it slightly comical how people insist on listing the selling price in dollars, and tying it to a certain exchange rate. If that is what you want, then just multiply the two, set it in shekalim, and avoid any argument. Am I missing something?)