Top ten Israel property deals of 2014

"Globes" looks back at 2014 and ranks the ten most expensive homes sold in Israel over the past year. Six of the homes were in Tel Aviv, two in Jerusalem and one each in Herzliya Pituach and Ramat Hasharon.

Here is the list starting with the house of Arik Vardi that reportedly used to belong to Baroness Batsheva Rothschild and which is located in the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood:

• NIS 130.1 million - Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) founder chairman and CEO Gil Shwed, and "Globes" businessperson of 2014, bought a 560-sq.m. house in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Afeka in August from ICQ founder Arik Vardi, who had bought the home in 2000 for just NIS 20.8 million.

• NIS 110 million - Ofer Investments controlling shareholder Leora Ofer bought a penthouse in January in the Herbert Samuel project on Tel Aviv seafront from her own company. The 690-sq.m. apartment covers the 20th and 21st floors and also has a 300-sq.m. patio.

• NIS 70 million - DEKA, controlled by Jacky Safra bought the 1,700-sq.m. Sherover House in Jerusalem's Talbieh neighborhood in December from the estate of Gita Sherover. Located by the Jerusalem Theater at the junction of Pinsker, Marcus and Dubnov streets, the house sits in a 1.1 acre lot and has building rights for an additional 1,120-sq.m.

• NIS 45 million - PokerStars CEO Mark Scheinberg bought a 588-sq.m., 10-room apartment in Tel Aviv's Rothschild 1 project in February from former Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) chairman Shlomo Nehama.

• NIS 43.5 million - Canadian-Jewish businessman Moti Maximoff bought a 13th apartment in Tel Aviv's Meier-on-Rothschild Tower in March. The 800-sq.m. apartment has 48-sq.m. of balconies on the 31st floor of the 42-floor building. He bought the apartment through his company, Ironstone Capital.

• NIS 40.4 million - Russian-born Israeli business magnate Leonid Nevzlin bought a 496-sq.m. unit in Jerusalem's new Waldorf-Astoria project in February. The second floor, ten-room apartment at the junction of Agron and King David Streets in Mamilla was the site of the Palace Hotel in the 1920s.

• NIS 37 million - Israeli businessman Yaakov Engel bought a 1,000-sq.m. house on Ramat Hasharon's Lemerhav Street from Orna and Aviv Reiss in June. The house, which was built only five years ago stands in half an acre of grounds.

• NIS 20.5 million - A Belgian diamond businessman bought a home in Tel Aviv's Tzahala neighborhood in May from Fore Group founder Moshe Shushan. The 643-sq.m. house built eight years ago is in just over half an acre of grounds.

• NIS 18.5 million - Playtech Cyprus Ltd. (AIM:PTEC) founder Teddy Sagi held IPOs in London for no fewer than three new companies in 2014. He also bought a triplex in Tel Aviv's Park Tzameret in March from businessman Moshe Peterburg. The 371-sq-m. apartment in the W tower covers the 44-45-46 floors.

• NIS 18 million Sanyo CEO Yuval Landsberg bought a house in Herzliya Pituach from Russian oligarch Michael Brudno in May. The 300-sq.m., 8-room house on a half-acre lot was built in 2002.

Source Globes