Foreign residents are selling properties ahead of the new real estate tax measures. An Englishman sold a 700-square meter house on a 1,000-square meter lot on Aharon Katzir Street in Herzliya Pituach for $6.5 million (NIS 24 million) to an Israeli.
The seller bought the house in 1999 for $3.4 million and invested almost $1 million in renovations and upgrades. The seller has owned high-end homes in Israel for 20 years. This is the last property to be sold and he has no plans to buy more property in the country.
Adv. Amit Segev, who represented the seller, said that the tax reform and discriminatory attitude against foreign residents over tax breaks on the capital gains from the sale of properties was having an effect on the market, causing foreign residents whose primary residence is not in Israel to sell properties. He predicts that until the amendment to the law comes into effect on January 1, 2014, foreign residents will sell their properties in Israel.
"This is a growing trend in view of the strengthening of the shekel against other currencies, the current price environment, which is very high, and reflects an almost continuous 10-year rise in real estate prices, compared with the drastic fall in real estate markets in the West. This has made it worthwhile to sell, in terms of alternative investment opportunities in other countries."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 25, 2013
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