Tel Aviv Real Estate blues

A recent survey shows that flat prices in Tel Aviv are starting to tumble… or maybe not. Tel Aviv Real Estate is well known for its stability, cheap apartments and Tel Aviv are rarely heard in the same sentence, however, the survey is full of “guesstimations” by senior real estate professionals who believe the price drops will be the direct result of tighter regulations in Israeli real estate and finances.

This isn’t necessarily bad news for Tel Aviv Real Estate owners, especially people that own Investment property in the White City. 53% of the Senior Real Estate professionals surveyed believe that rental prices in Tel Aviv will remain stable, and 29% predicted that Tel Aviv rental prices will go up, while 16% of real estate professionals believe rental prices will drop.

To make matters worse, Justice Ministry’s chief land appraiser has announced that overall, housing prices are down 1.2% in Q3 of 2011 and showed a 6% drop in flat prices in Tel Aviv, although, in nearby Netanya, prices didn’t budge one bit and cities like Ashdod, Haifa and Jerusalem saw an increase of 2%. You might be wondering, what’s going on with Israel Real Estate prices?? Let me tell you, this is nothing new. The economy is going through a rough patch, but it will bounce back as always.

I predict Real estate in Tel Aviv, regardless of the prices, will continue to offer attractive real estate investment opportunities, it just depends on how fit you are to weather the storm.

High-End Real Estate in Israel still on top

Israel, selected in April 2008 by Forbes as one of the worlds most promising real estate markets, has always attracted affluent Jews from the Diaspora eager to buy property in Jerusalem, however, with the rise of luxury high rises in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, more and more affluent Jews are buying second homes in Israel, near the spectacular Mediterranean sea. Luxury real estate in Israel seems to be unaffected by the recent world economic downturn. Tel Aviv apartments for sale in the price range of $3,000,000 and up still being purchased by the well to do, as are high-end penthouses with price tags as high as $30,000,000.

The high-end real estate market is meant for those that have the means to buy luxury properties in the most desirable locations; buyers of such properties from the UK, Belgium, Canada, USA and South Africa demand only the finest quality and the ultimate experience in living.

Although overseas real estate markets have been hit hard by the worlds financial crisis, it is unlikely that Israel’s luxury real estate market will be affected, particularly since the market has proven that is has the capacity to withstand even the toughest circumstances.

Forbes: Israel is one of the world’s Up-And-Coming Real Estate Markets

The article cites that although Israel’s real estate market struggled in the late ’90s and early 2000s, last year prices climbed 2% and this trend is expected to continue, “given the country’s robust 5.1% 2007 growth in gross domestic product and a 3.8% projection for this year.”

Read the entire article here