Neve Tzedek et l'invasion des Bobos

Interesting piece on public French TV channel France 2 on the invasion of French "Bobos"(bourgeois-bohème), those well-off French Jews leaning on the left and who have either emigrated to Israel or bought a place, just in case....

With almost 10 000 French Jews having moved to Israel last year and even more so having bought a place and now spending many months a year in the Holy Land, it's not surprising that the French influence can be witnessed all over the country.

But some neighbourhoods have been more affected than others and Neve Tzedek, because of its European character and charm, has been more popular than others with the French elite. It's no wonder then that property prices in Deauville have plummeted while those in those hip Israeli neighbourhoods like Neve Tzedek, called by some the "Petit Paris",  have soared....

3 bed home prices rose by 8% in 2015

The price of an average four-room apartment in Israel rose by 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2015, and by 8% over the entire year, according to figures published today by the Ministry of Justice's Appraiser Tal Alderotti. These figures are in line with those recently published by both the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The Government Appraiser examines the price of four rom apartments in Israel's 16 largest cities. In examining 4,600 deals, the Appraiser found that prices rose most in Rishon Lezion (6%) and Rehovot (6%) in the fourth quarter of 2015, followed by Tel Aviv (5%). Prices rose least in Kfar Saba and Petah Tikva where they were unchanged. Prices rose by 3% in Jerusalem in the fourth quarter of 2015 and by 1% in Herzliya, Haifa, Netanya, and Modiin.

In all of 2015, prices rose most in Ashkelon and Beersheva (15%) and least in Jerusalem (2%). Prices rose 11% in Herzliya, 9% in Modiin, 6% in Haifa and 4% in Tel Aviv.

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.

New law gives homebuyers more leverage with builders

A new consumer protection law for the housing industry passed today in the Knesset. Contractors must publish a detailed price list of the main fixtures and specifications in apartments under construction. The law, an amendment to sale laws, states homebuyers will now be able to request changes to the specification during a period of up to six months after the end of the foundation stage. Buyers who would want to install other items or less electric points etc will receive refunds based on the contractors' price lists. Up to now, the pricing of kitchens, floors, bathroom fixtures and others worth hundreds of thousands of shekels was vague, and solely in the hands of developers and contractors as 'gifts' to lure buyers, after this law takes effect buyers can now put a price tag on those extras, sometimes made compulsory by the developer to increase profits from deals with his suppliers.

Israel Tax Authority investigating foreign landlords

In August 2013, the Israel Tax Authority (ITA) launched a targeted enforcement operation to detect tax evaders among the owners of luxury apartments in Tel Aviv. This operation resulted in the findings of hundreds of thousands of shekels of unreported annual income. Many of these apartment owners were foreign residents who rented out their apartments without reporting the rental income to the ITA.

Due to the success of the initial operation, the ITA decided to tighten the enforcement and in the middle of November launched a further raid, this time, over 200 luxury apartments in Ashdod owned mostly by foreign residents. The ITA teams requested from the tenants to produce the rental agreements and information regarding the rental payments. About 30 tenants immediately cooperated and provided the requested information. Another 80 tenants were required to produce the information in the following days together with the remaining tenants that were not present during the time of the raid. The ITA announced that foreign residents who are leasing apartments and not reporting the rental income will be summoned via their representatives, for further investigation.

Tel Aviv beachfront flat prices soar to new heights

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, an oft-heard claim was that while some of the mega-wealthy were hurt by the crisis, many came out of it financially stronger. One place to find backing for this claim is to look at what is possibly the most expensive strip of real estate in Israel - the kilometer-long stretch of central Tel Aviv's Mediterranean shoreline, spanning from the Dan Hotel near Tel Aviv Marina to the shell of the Dolphinarium discotheque in the south. By this measure, the rich are certainly richer. The total value of apartment sales in the area jumped to NIS 444 million in 2012, from NIS 270 million in 2010. In the first half of this year, the volume reached NIS 340 million, and real estate experts say it will reach between NIS 500 million to 600 million for all of 2014.

The main reason behind the increased volume is that more luxury apartments have come online in recent years, says Noam Dzialdow, CEO of the luxury realtor Neot Shiran. “Along the Tel Aviv shoreline, the market is almost always influenced by supply and not demand. In a market so small in terms of supply, everything that goes on sale is sold,” he says. Traditionally, the number of new developments that can be built has been constrained. The general public - the ones who don’t aspire to a seaside penthouse but simply a day at the beach - fight to ensure access and unobstructed views. Most of the original construction on streets closest to the beach are low-rise buildings, built on small parcels of land. Developers typically have to buy out multiple property owners to amass enough land to build a new project, a process that can take so many years that the building never gets off the ground.