Housing snapshot: Home sales and rentals across Israel

Israel’s housing market has been quietly taking a step away from the meteoric rises we have seen over the past two years and scaling back significantly on the number of properties changing hands.

Property owners appear to prefer to wait out the lull, rather than sell at less than the price they had in mind. But the increasing costs of home financing following the successive rate rises from the Bank of Israel mean that some private owners, and property developers, need to cash in, a situation which can allow for bargains to be found.

This month, The Times of Israel looks at some of Israel’s biggest property markets to explore what is for sale today at the top and at the bottom of the property ladder. We make use of the Israel Tax Authority’s database, which records the actual prices paid for properties, and we focus on sales over the last month to bring you the most up-to-date picture of what is going on in the market.

It is not an entirely scientific study, but the information we have gathered suggests that while the cheapest homes have not become any cheaper, the asking prices of the most expensive homes changing hands have gone down.

In Tel Aviv, the most recent data suggests a slight fall in property prices, and only 55 transactions have been registered for tax over the last month, many of which reflect only partial payments. Over the same period last year, more than 450 homes changed hands in the city.

1. In late June, a two-room (one-bedroom) apartment on Ma’apilei Salvador Street in the southern part of Jaffa sold for NIS 2,040,000 ($549,283). The apartment is new — having been completed this year — and measures just 57 square meters (614 square feet), on the third of seven floors.

2. In the same week, a household prepaid NIS 5,555,555 ($1,495,870) for a three-room (two-bedroom) apartment of 71 square meters (764 square feet) in a new tower building to be constructed in the north of Tel Aviv on Shai Agnon Street. The apartment, on the 14th of 40 floors, is not scheduled for handover until 2029.

3. In Ashdod, of 45 transactions over the past month, the cheapest apartment to sell was on Ha-Etrog Street, in an outlying suburb, offering three rooms (two bedrooms) and 68 square meters (732 square feet) of space for NIS 1,550,000 ($426,058). The property was built in 1994 and is located on the seventh of eight floors.

4. The most expensive home to change hands in Ashdod cost NIS 2,699,999 ($727,928) – a relatively reasonable cost for a home in a popular city in the center of the country. The apartment on Balfour Street, next to the Lev Ashdod shopping mall, has 126 square meters (1,356 square feet) of space, divided into five rooms (four bedrooms), on the 15th of 16 floors, in a modern building completed in 2015.

5. Remaining central, in Netanya, which saw 50 real estate transactions over the last four weeks (compared to over 250 over the same period last year ), the most expensive property (by a considerable margin) was an apartment built in 2013 on Matityahu Dankner Street, just moments away from the central Sironit Beach. It was priced at NIS 9,144,000 ($2,462,082) for five rooms (four bedrooms) on the 14th of 15 floors with an area of 175 square meters (1,884 square feet).

6. Away from the sea and in the southern part of Netanya, a two-room apartment on Yirmiyahu Street sold for NIS 1,240,000 ($333,878). The apartment is in a building dating from 1960, on the first of two floors, and measures 34 square meters (366 square feet).

7. In Jerusalem, where prices have risen steeply over the last few years, there were 46 sales over the period from late June to late July, (there were more than 500 during the same time period in 2022). On Kosovski Street in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, next to David Abulaf’ya Square, a six-room apartment (five bedroom) on the fifth of 10 floors, with a parking space, sold in the last week for NIS 4,846,000 ($1,348,733). Built in 2005, it measures 131 square meters (1,410 square feet).

8. The cheapest property sold in the Jerusalem area over the last month cost NIS 1,050,000 ($282,719), significantly below the average for any amount of space in the capital. The apartment is a one-room studio apartment measuring 33 square meters (355 square feet), built in 1970, on the fourth of eight floors in a building on Afarsemon Street southeast of Jerusalem near Ramat Rachel, but falls outside of the city’s official boundaries.

9. Prices in Haifa have seen less extreme inflation than many of Israel’s other cities, and therefore remain more affordable. That affordability is likely to be the reason that in contrast to other major cities, more than 100 transactions were recorded there over the last month. The most expensive property registered was a six-room (five-bedroom) apartment of 144 square meters (1,550 square feet) on HaTor Street, which sold for NIS 4,263,000 ($1,186,473). The apartment is in a new building, scheduled for completion in 2024, on the sixth floor of 10, in the city center.

10. At the other end of the scale, the cheapest property to change hands since late June on Allenby Road cost just NIS 800,000 ($215,405). The apartment covers 58 square meters (624 square feet) of space, divided into four rooms, and is in a building that dates back to 1930.

11. In Afula, prices have been going up sharply but from a low base. Levels of activity over the last four weeks were similar to much larger, more in-demand cities. And with one exception, all the prices recorded were for homes costing below the national average (of around NIS 2 million). That exception was a six-room (five-bedroom) first-floor apartment on an unnamed street in the city, that measures 200 square meters (2,153 square feet) and sold for NIS 3,730,000 ($1,004,327). The apartment was built in 2013.

12. Elsewhere in the city, just NIS 430,000 ($115,780) was enough to buy a two-room (one-bedroom) fifth-floor apartment, built in 1990 and offering 36 square meters (388 square feet) of space. The apartment is on Yitshak Ben Zvi Street in the Neve Yosef neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

13. Staying in the north, in the traditionally lower-cost city of Tiberias, 26 properties changed hands between late June and late July. They ranged in price from a two-room apartment of 42 square meters (452 square feet) built in 1997 on Bialik Street for NIS 600,000 ($161,554) through to a brand new villa on a street yet to be named with 144 square meters (1,550 square feet) of indoor space and a 78 square meter (840 square feet) yard. The six-room (five-bedroom) apartment sold for NIS 2,600,000 ($700,067).

Rentals

While home-buying prices have stabilized, rental prices have continued to rise steeply, by roughly double the rate of inflation for new leases at an average of close to 10% according to most recently published data. Anything that could be considered a bargain tends to find new tenants without advertising or is taken by existing tenants.

This means that properties listed as available for rent are likely to be only the least attractive, or the most expensive, with homes in the most popular locations snapped up very quickly.

Our sample of current listings comes from Yad2, the central location for rental advertisements across the country, and what’s available seems very much to reflect that picture. We have focused on three-room — two-bedroom — apartments, suitable for a pair of roommates or a small family.

On Tel Aviv‘s Modigliani Street in the center of the city, a three-room apartment on the first floor measuring 70 square meters (753 square feet) is available to rent for NIS 8,000 ($2,154) per month. The apartment is unfurnished and comes without parking. It does not appear to have undergone recent refurbishment.

On AlHarizi Street in the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem, a three-room apartment measuring 65 square meters (700 square feet) is being advertised for NIS 7,150 ($1,925) per month. The apartment is unfurnished, does not include any parking, and the bedrooms are described as “small.”

In Haifa, on Aba Hillel Silver Street close to the city’s Grand Canyon shopping mall, a three-and-a-half-room apartment is available for NIS 3,670 ($988) a month. The two-floor apartment measures 80 square meters (861 square feet), with views of the city. It appears to have been recently refurbished, yet comes unfurnished.

In Ashdod, NIS 4,200 ($1,131) can secure a fourth-floor 78 square meter (840 square feet) apartment, with three rooms, on HaPalmach Boulevard in the Rova 3 neighborhood. The property has just been redone, with new air-conditioning units in each room, and is unfurnished.

In Netanya, on Eliezer Ben Yehuda Street in the center of the city, a three-room apartment is available for rent at NIS 4,730 ($1,274). The apartment measures 100 square meters (1,076 square feet), has two balconies, and is on the third floor of an older three-story building. The apartment has not recently been refurbished and does not come with either furniture or a parking space.