TEL AVIV, Israel—More than a quarter-million Israelis marched on Saturday evening against the high cost of housing, though many Israelis said it was a general protest over the struggle to make ends meet.

“Every month was the same. We would work and cut coupons and hold off on anything frivolous. Still, we would end the month counting pennies and not put anything away,” said Lital Ben-Mor, 33. “You have no idea how depressing it is to think you will spend your whole life barely getting by. Now these protests show that across the country, Israelis feel the same way. That it’s not just us who are stuck like this.”

Israel’s economy is one of the strongest in the region. It projects growth of 4.8 percent this year when most countries in the region are facing economic stagnation. For the average Israeli, however, costs have gone up while their wages have stayed the same.

Figures published in Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, said the price of housing in Israel has risen 60 percent in the past four years. Increasingly, Israelis are spending more than half their wages on housing.

Israeli officials responded to the protest by forming a panel of government ministers and economic experts to draw up a plan to reduce living costs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to rein in expectations, telling the protesters that he would not make rash decisions.

“We cannot take all the lists of problems, and all the list of demands, and pretend we will be able to satisfy everyone,” Netanyahu said. “We need to be fiscally responsible, while making some socially sensitive amendments.”

The committee is expected to take a month to make its recommendations, frustrating protesters.

The protest leaders have published a list of specific demands, though the movement has come to represent a vague call for change across various interest groups in Israel.

The official demands include construction of affordable housing and a reduction of the sales tax, which is now 16 percent.