Based on the rate of sales of homes for more than NIS 10 million in the first half of 2025, the high-end market is having one of its worst years in recent memory, after 2024 was one of the best years in this market.
In the first half of 2025, some 150 housing deals worth NIS 10 million or more were reported on the Israel Tax Authority website. This is not the final number, and in the coming months it will be updated with additional transactions recorded by the Tax Authority, but for unclear reasons have not yet been reported.
Even if this number increases by 20% (this is usually the amount of deals added to the website at later stages), this will still be a year of stagnation in terms of high-end transactions. In the first half of 2024, 309 transactions were reported, and in the first half of 2022 - 264 transactions. Even in the first half of 2023, which was considered the worst year in the real estate market since 2003, 191 luxury transactions were recorded.
The geographic distribution of the Israeli high-end market is also changing. Until recent years, luxury in Israel was focused on three centers: Tel Aviv, where about 60% of transactions above NIS 10 million were completed, Jerusalem and Herzliya, each of which accounted for about 15% of deals. The other 10% were in other cities.
In recent years, Herzliya's position has weakened in terms of the number of luxury deals carried out. In 2023, 9% of housing transactions over NIS 10 million were in Herzliya, while in 2024 it declined to 5%. Only one deal has been recorded in the city at a price higher than NIS 10 million in the first half of 2025. Even if additional transactions were carried out in the city that have not yet been reported on the Tax Authority website, this is an exceptionally low number, indicating that Herzliya is in declining in terms of popularity among luxury property buyers.
Herzliya's place in the high-end market has been taken by Jerusalem, where last year luxury transactions accounted for 20% of all deals completed in the country, and this year about 25%. This is largely due to the wave of orthodox Jewish foreign residents who are buying up the city's luxury properties. In 2024 and the first half of 2025 these foreign residents purchased about 140 apartments.
Over the past year the most expensive home purchased was not in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Herzliya, but rather Caesarea.
Caesarea: The biggest deals on the prime minister's street
Neighborhood 6 in Caesarea has become the most prestigious neighborhood in the small coastal town in recent years, especially Hadar Street, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private house is located. The most expensive sales in Caesarea over the last decade have been in neighborhood 6, where large plots of land of more than 1,000 square meters can be found.
In the most recent deal, Reuven and Sandy Moskowitz from the US bought a house at 55 Hadar Street for NIS 78 million from Prof. Shlomo Ben Haim, a cardiologist and biotech entrepreneur. The 1,700 square meter house is on a 6,400 square meter lot, 400 meters from the sea. The house was built by the late heart surgeon Prof. Dani Gur, who sold it in 2001 to businessman Arkady Gaydamak for NIS 33.2 million. Ben Haim bought the house from Gaydamak ten years later for Nis 47 million after encountering financial difficulties.
Tel Aviv: A super-real estate agent sold his own home
In Shoshana Street in Tel Aviv's Tzahala neighborhood, the second most expensive housing deal was completed over the past year. A 728 square meter house on a 1,060 square meter lot was sold for NIS 62.1 million. The house, which belonged to super-realtor Rafi Kalina, is in a quiet, leafy and intimate part of the neighborhood near the municipal border with Ramat Hasharon. The new owners are currently undertaking major renovations including demolishing part of the house to adapt it to their needs and tastes.
Jerusalem: The most secret mega-project in Israel
At 47 King George Street in Jerusalem, on the site where Solel Boneh's offices once stood, opposite the Jewish Agency building, the 22-floor Intercontinental Hotel is being built. Next to it is a 15-floor residential building, with one apartment on each floor, called Vista Jerusalem. The US developers are called Heikhal Shlomo Towers and the apartment building overlooks Independence Park.
In the original plans, the residential building had 40 units, but the developer decided to reduce this to only 15 apartments, and with good reason. According to the Tax Authority website, six apartments have already been sold in the project at prices ranging from NIS 16.5 to 40.6 million. Owner representative Harvey Douglen tells of another deal that was recently closed for NIS 43 million.
The large differences between the prices of the apartments in the project are explained by the area of the apartments and the views they offer. The apartments on the lower floors have no view, while from the tenth floor and above there is a view of the Old City, and from the top floors the Temple Mount can be seen. As a result, the prices per square meter in these apartments jump wildly from NIS 70,000 per square meter on the lower floors to NIS 125,000 per square meter on the upper floors, and this is at the shell finish level with just bare walls. This makes the project the most prestigious currently being marketed in the city.
The apartment that sold for NIS 40.6 million is on the 12th floor, while the one sold for NIS 43 million is on the 13th floor. The project is being marketed by word of mouth, which makes it the most prestigious project being marketed "under the radar." Oren Cohen, owner of the Oren Cohen Group, which specializes in luxury properties in Jerusalem and has marketed several units in the project, confirmed the data, but declined to provide further details about the prestigious project.
Haifa: An exclusive neighborhood continues to produce expensive deals
There are several prestigious projects in Haifa that have produced really expensive deals, but ultimately, the only neighborhood that manages to consistently produce high-end deals is Danya's neighborhood of detached houses.
A 400 square meter house at 5 Norway Street, recently fetched NIS 11.5 million, the highest price paid for a home in Haifa over the past year, reaching 11.5 million shekels. This is a house in the sought-after upper part of the Danya A neighborhood, not far from the nearby commercial area, on the side facing south, with a view of Carmel Park and the sea. All this, on a quiet cul-de-sac.
In recent years, two other deals were conducted on the street at prices of more than NIS 10 million, which makes it one of the most expensive streets in Haifa.
Beersheva: The house was sold for a record but the owners barely profited
The high-end market in Beersheva is modest compared with the center of the country, and in the periphery, the price of a luxury apartment is sometimes even lower than the price of a regular apartment in Tel Aviv.
At 30 Shoshana Damari Street in the Kalaniyot neighborhood, a seven-room, 256-square-meter house, with an 80-square-meter basement, swimming pool and office unit, on a 500 square meter lot, was sold for NIS 5.25 million.
The Kalaniyot neighborhood in northwest Beersheva, includes land for construction by individual buyers that the Israel Land Authority (ILA) has been marketing since 2017. The ILA began selling at NIS 1,700 shekels per square meter, and two years ago prices reached NIS 3,700 per square meter. Prices have now fallen and stabilized at around NIS 3,300 shekels per square meter.
Given that the price of 500 square meter lots in the neighborhood is about NIS 1.7 million, construction of a house will bring the total cost of building a house to NIS 4.8-5 million, not far from the price at which the property was sold. "I think the numbers have converged more or less towards the price at which the house was sold. At such a price in the Kalaniyot neighborhood, which is considered very beautiful, it is also difficult to talk about great profitability, and overall, we should not forget that the plot was originally sold for a much lower price," says appraiser Ohad Vartch.
The market is maturing and with it the supply of high-end homes
A 191 square meter house with a 191 square meter yard in Esther Hamalka Street in Modiin was recently sold for NIS 7.59 million, in the most expensive housing deal completed in the city over the past year. The house is in Modiin's southernmost neighborhood (formerly called Buchman South), where the first houses were built 20 years ago.
The building in which the recent deal was completed is a new building purchased from the developer A.K. Residential 38. The company purchased the plot, on which 24 cottages were built, in a 2016 ILA auction outbidding 17 other companies. The company then paid NIS 22.6 million (excluding VAT) for the plot and another NIS 13.6 million for development.
"This is a very sought-after location, as reflected in the auction," says RE/MAX Unique franchisee Ronit Elad, who operates in Modi'in. "This is the last land reserve in the Moriah neighborhood, which is located on the seam line between the neighborhood and Reut."
In general, this transaction can be seen as an expression of a kind of market maturation. Modiin was established about 30 years ago, and for many years the most expensive properties in the city were land lots in Reut and Maccabim, which preceded the city itself as independent towns. In recent years, special apartments can also be seen within the "new" city, which compete well with the properties in the older neighborhoods.
Herzliya: The land is worth much more than the house
The most expensive deal in Herzliya over the past year was reported in November 2024 in Herzliya Pituah. A special, rounded 400 square meter house above a basement, built on a 1,000 square meter lot, was sold for NIS 30 million to Ronit and Rami Shabiru, owners of the Shabiru real estate company. The house was built about 30 years ago.
"This is a highly sought-after area. I estimate that NIS 25 million was paid for the lot and NIS 5 million for the house, which is slated for demolition. Another house will probably be built on it," says appraiser Israel Yaacov.
Ramat Gan: The sea view has been replaced by the view of the lake
Four transactions worth more than NIS 10 million have been reported in Ramat Gan since last Rosh Hashanah. The most expensive of them, by a considerable margin, was for a penthouse currently under construction in The Lake project by developers Srugo and ZMH Hammerman. The project includes 180 apartments in three luxurious 16-floor towers above the Safari Lake.
The most expensive of the deals was a single 230 square meter upper penthouse on the 16th floor, on one level with three balconies totaling 140 square meters, including preparation for a swimming pool on the balcony. The penthouse overlooks the park and the lake and enjoys an open 360-degree view. This deal illustrates once again that not only a sea view raises prices, but also views of artificial lakes, nature reserves and sacred places.
Nahariya: Near the sea for NIS 5 million
Other types of views aside, the sea is still a trump card, certainly in a coastal city like Nahariya. In the most expensive deal reported in the city last year, a penthouse on Sokolov Street was sold for NIS 5.4 million. Buyers of the penthouse will be able to enjoy an open view of the sea, which is 200 meters away.
This is a 197 square meter, five-room seventh floor apartment with a 133 square meter balcony. The apartment, which was built as part of an urban renewal project, is 200 meters the sea, and rises above all the houses in front of it, so an open sea view is guaranteed, at least for the near future.
An interesting detail is that a few dozen meters away, on Szold Street, in a building closer to the sea, a 142 square meter garden apartment with a 185 square meter yard was sold for NIS 5.1 million. In this case, the sea view did not play a role at all. The price difference was due to the fact that a balcony with a view is still worth more than a yard without a view.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 25, 2025.
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