Israel real estate

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Developers target Tel Aviv area for more office space
2008-05-03 09:08:00
During the past year there has been a flurry of activity in office real estate. Many developers are starting new projects or busily finishing others. In the Azrieli compound, the new square tower, the last of a trio, is going up. A 70-story office/residential tower is planned where the Elite factory used to be, while more high-rise buildings are being built, or being planned, along the Ayalon highway in the Petah Tikva Industrial Zone and in the Herzliya hi-tech industrial area.But despite the flurry of activity experts believe that by the end of the year there will be a shortage of 400,000 meters of office space in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
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Students urge Jerusalem's absentee homeowners to rent
2008-04-29 09:25:00
While many Diaspora Jews consider their Israeli homes an important investment in the Jewish state, many locals say absentee homeowners have driven up market prices, drained the market of available rentals and made many Jerusalem neighborhoods unaffordable for Israelis.That's why a coalition of student activists has launched a campaign to persuade the absentee homeowners to open up their homes to Israeli renters."We think it's great that foreign Jews are buying here and investing in Jerusalem," said David Uziel, 29, a graduate student in urban planning at Hebrew University. "But if they keep their apartments empty, they are weakening Jerusalem."
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Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka to visit Israel
2008-04-25 00:41:00
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of real estate mogul Donald Trump, will arrive in Israel on May 12 to get acquainted with the local real estate market.Ivanka Trump will be in Israel for two days to gather information on investments for her father, as well as to try to pull Israeli investors to Donald Trump's new real estate project in Philadelphia.Ivanka Trump, 26, will be visiting Israel for the first time. She will be traveling alone and plans to meet with Israel's uppermost economic and political echelons. During her stay, she will be staying in one of the suites at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv.
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Real estate sector lifts market
2008-04-21 10:47:00
The TASE saw another day of rises, on the back of yesterday's gains on Wall Street and the positive reaction on stock markets around the globe. The real estate sector took the lead once more, with the TA Real Estate 15 Index finishing the day up 4.6%.
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Most Israeli real estate companies are heavy users of credits
2008-04-17 11:51:00
This is good news for anyone who invests in Israel real estate stocks. Apartment buyers, as well as those who have bought apartments in the past, will benefit from the sharp drop in interest rates through lower mortgage costs."The fall in the basic interest rates," Bruchim said, "will have an immediate effect on mortgages. Mortgages are sophisticated financial transactions. Clients can choose what kind of mortgages they want - whether in foreign currency, shekel mortgages linked to the cost of living, or unlinked shekel mortgages bearing floating interest rates based on the prime rate. Most take a mortgage mix of shekel-linked and prime rate-linked on a 60% to 40% ratio. Some also take a small part of their mortgage linked to the US dollar.
More About: Companies , Estate , Real Estate , Real , Heavy

'Nature beats real estate' in Supreme Court ruling
2008-04-14 16:45:00
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the decision by the Tel Aviv District Court to prohibit construction on a parcel of land in Nes Tziona that is one of the few remaining habitats of the Dark Purple Iris (Iris Atropurpurea, Irus Ha'argaman). The flower is unique to Israel.After state planning authorities did not earmark the land for construction, on the grounds that a national park was planned there, the owners of the property took their case to the district court. When the court upheld the planning council's decision, the landowners appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court justice said in their ruling that the planning authorities had carefully considered all aspects of the land dispute, and that they saw no reason to interfere in the planners' decisions. The justices emphasized the importance of preserving the property in its natural state.
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Auctioning real estate in Israel
2008-04-12 00:43:00
Israel real estate - This trend has also started to capture the real estate market as more and more websites specialize in the sale of real estate. In recent times the system of auctioning real estate through the internet is gaining ground though slowly and with reason. Real estate sales conducted through an online auction is now also offered in Israel. David Levy a lawyer who specializes in real estate has launched a new website called, mizrachonline, in which homes are been auctioned to the highest bidder.In 2007 approximately 95,000 apartments and houses were bought and sold in Israel of which some 25,000 were new constructions. The majority of apartments were sold by conventional means either through a real estate brokers, the sales network of the development companies or through adds in the media.
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David Baruch: "Israel's real estate market will be hit by the US sub-prime
2008-04-09 01:55:00
"A slowdown in Israel is a certainty and a sharp drop in foreign investment in both commercial and residential real estate is probable," predicts Excellence Investments CEO David Baruch. He made the comment during the annual conference of the Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel in Eilat on Friday. There were more than 950 participants at the event at the Princess Hotel.Baruch added, "The sub-prime crisis has created capital distress at foreign banks, with the result that Israeli developers in international markets will find it difficult to obtain credit. The price of credit in Israel and overseas will go up."
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Forbes sees promise in Israeli real estate
2008-04-04 23:26:00
"Forbes " says, "Although the worldwide real estate market is softening as credit reservoirs dry, some spots are poised for growth." The magazine rated Israel as the world's most "up-and-coming" real estate market."Forbes" notes, "Israel's real estate market struggled in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the country grappled with deflation. As late as 2006, market weakness had pushed prices down 4%, according to Knight Frank, a London-based real estate research company. But last year prices climbed 2%. That 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, according to the International Monetary Fund."
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Tel Aviv's most expensive flat, a steal at $34 million
2008-04-01 07:38:00
The elite Tel Aviv real estate market is sailing to unrecognizable heights these days, at least as far as contractors can see.The Gindi Group, which holds construction of the G Tower in central Tel Aviv, recently announced that it would be selling one of its apartments for $34 million - the highest-priced flat in the city.The cost is nearly twice that of Israel's currently highest-priced apartment, purchased by Idan Ofer on Rothschild Boulevard 1 for $17.1 million. AdvertisementThe question now is whether anybody will actually be willing to pay the demanded amount.
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Kardan to merge real estate unit in Israel with Delek Real Estate
2008-03-28 21:24:00
AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Kardan NV said it is to merge its Israel i real estate unit, Kardan Real Estate , with Delek Real Estate , creating one of the largest residential property developers in Israel.The merged company will hold a land bank for approximately 7,000 housing units of which 1,600 are already under construction, the company said.
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The slump in the dollar has not yet affected foreign investment in Israeli
2008-03-25 09:58:00
The slump in the dollar has not yet affected foreign investment in Israeli real estate. Diaspora Jews, especially from the US, UK, and France are continuing to buy apartments either as residences or for investment.The Bank of Israel reports that foreign residents bought $93 million worth of real estate in February 2008, compared with $167 million in January. The central bank notes the monthly drop in investment, but also notes the lower number of business days in February.
More About: Investment , Foreign Investment , Dollar , Foreign

Properties in central Jerusalem neighborhoods - Talbieh, the German Colony
2008-03-20 23:27:00
Property deals in the second half of 2007 were closing at levels similar to the first half of 2007, as israel real estate price increases began slowing. The flow of overseas buyers has slowed greatly in recent months.The primary explanation for this slowdown is the economic crisis in the U.S. and the collapse of the dollar. Nevertheless, there is a feeling among prospective apartment buyers that Jerusalem property owners are asking too much for exclusive homes."There certainly is a slowdown," one agent says. "There is a feeling that while foreign residents behaved naively in the past and bought just about anything for any price, they are now wiser."
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U.S. economy in crisis as it pays price for greed
2008-03-18 06:18:00
And that is how even the most solid companies, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi fell sharply Monday, along with Africa Israel and The Israel Corporation. And Teva and Israel Chemicals. That is the definition of a crash - everything falls without any distinction between good and bad, including government bonds. Real estate prices are dropping, and oil and commodity prices are skyrocketing. Exporters to the U.S. are hurting from the weak dollar, and a credit crisis is now choking economic activity. The Israeli economy is no longer expected to grow by 5% this year, but only by 3.5%. So maybe this is not really a panic, but just an intelligent and accurate appraisal of reality.
More About: Economy , Price , Greed , Pays , Crisis

Israel real estate stocks hit 2 year low as credit crisis reaches Tel Aviv
2008-03-15 05:09:00
The crisis has not ignored Tel Aviv. After chasing real estate stocks blindly in expectation that the party would never end, investors are now scared. The fall of developer Heftsiba last August, and the financial chaos in its wake, had its effect. True, in the real estate sector they never stopped trying to convince us that Heftsiba was a one-off, specific problem - mostly criminal and not economic. But it certainly should have set off a warning light. The Israel Real Estate 15 is now 46% below its record high of last May. Many of the index's firms are now trading at a value below its shareholder equity.
More About: Stocks , Credit , Real Estate

US-Israeli developer brings golf to Israel's historic Mount Arbel
2008-03-11 23:17:00
It was when the bottom fell out of the US real estate market in the early 1990s, that Joseph Bernstein first got the idea to open a luxury golf course in Israel.It wasn't an overnight revelation, more of a gradual process of discovery. Bernstein, an Israeli who had immigrated to America as a child, had been involved in a number of large real estate developments in New York through his company, Americas Partners, including the $500 million development Americas Tower, the US headquarters of Bank Hapoalim and world headquarters of PriceWaterhouseCoopers.When the market tanked in 1991, he decided to forget about work for a while and take up golf. He spent the next year devoting himself to the sport. He traveled widely in pursuit of his new interest and one day found himself teeing off on Israel's only golf course at Caesarea.
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Dankner cousins leave Atlas Management
2008-03-10 10:46:00
Elran (DD) Israel Real Estate Ltd. controlled by cousins co-chairmen Gad Dankner and Dori Dankner, has sold its 37.5 percent in Atlas Management Company Ltd. the property manager of Atlas Estates Ltd. (AIM:ATLS) to Elran's partners, RP Capital Group Ltd. and BCRE Izaki Properties, for â?¬6.5 million. Following the sale, RP will own 51 percent of Atlas Management Company, and Izaki Properties will own 49 percent.Elran Real Estate owns 9 percent of Atlas Estates, which is registered in the Channel Island of Guernsey. This holding is not affected by the present deal.Gadi Dankner and Dori Dankner will resign as directors of Atlas Management Company and from the investment committee of Atlas Estates.
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Israel real estate price boom may be over
2008-03-08 10:03:00
The israel real estate market entered 2008 with a certain amount of trepidation.Potential home buyers are apprehensive, fearing that real estate prices will continue to rise as they did in 2006 to 2007. And those who invested in real estate, in what for them were halcyon years, fear that prices may fall in the future.But before explaining what can be expected from the local real estate market in 2008 a few words on the past. From 1996 to 2004 or 2005 Israel experienced the longest, and in some ways sharpest, real estate depression in its history. Price s fell by 20 percent to 25% on average, while some categories, particularly expensive real estate, fell by up to 40%. This was something new in Israel.
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real

Jerusalem Real Estate
2008-03-05 21:50:00
Welcome, prospective home buyers, to the Jerusalem suburb of Har Homa, where the clamour of construction is difficult to square either with the tide of world opinion, which insists that new building here should be halted, or with the outraged claims by some right-wing Israeli politicians that it already has been."There has never before been a situation like this in the history of Jerusalem where an Israeli government actively freezes building," opposition politician Uri Ariel stormed in The Jerusalem Post last month. He calls the situation "a national disgrace."Call it what you will, and never mind what Uri Ariel may believe, the construction of new housing is rattling ahead in Har Homa, a modern bedroom community of about 15,000 Jewish residents sandwiched between the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Bahir and the storied town of Bethlehem, where Palestinians dwell beyond a forbidding concrete wall.
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Donald Trump said he might do a deal with Tshuva
2008-03-03 17:35:00
"I have a lot of respect for Yitzhak Tshuva. He has done something incredible with the Plaza," real estate magnate Donald Trump told the summit yesterday afternoon. Trump owned the the Plaza at one time, but said he still has feelings for the place. As for Israel, Trump said he loved the country and had visited a few times. He said there was even a park named after him - after he donated money for it. As for whether he intends to invest in Israel, Trump responded to the question saying he was about to build a building here, but the site was sold first. He said he might do a deal with Tshuva, and there were also interesting places to build in the Far East and Russia. But Israel is now a hot location, said Trump, adding he never would have said that 4 or 5 years ago.
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U.S. Haredim investing heavily in Tel Aviv real estate
2008-03-01 10:28:00
Tel Aviv Real estate may turn into a bigger market than New York for ultra-Orthodox businessmen seeking capital. This week Tel Aviv investors learned of another bond offering here, of up to NIS 200 million, by Abraham Leser, owner of a real estate group. His associates are quick to distance him from another ultra-Orthodox real estate tycoon: Shaya Boymelgreen. "He isn't like him at all, not colorful and not embroiled [in disputes] like him. He has no ego," said one of his friends.
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Investing , Tel Aviv

American Colony israel real estate developer
2008-02-28 20:59:00
Sources inform that israel real estate developer American Colony Ltd. is set to float its European activity on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) at the ambitious value of €400 million. UK investment bank Collins Stewart will be the lead underwriter for the issue.American Colony develops, builds, markets and manages residential property projects. It listed on the TASE last May, and currently has a market cap of just NIS 309 million. The company intends to float on AIM its wholly owned subsidiary Inter Colony Real Estate Development Ltd., which manages its property business in Hungary, Romania, and Cyprus. Inter Colony is building a total of 20,000 units, 3,000 of which are in the process of being sold.
More About: Israel , Real Estate , Developer

Banks raise pressure on Ramet Israel Properties
2008-02-28 07:10:00
Controlling shareholder Shlomo Shmeltzer to back out of the deal to acquire Ramet, just ten days after the intensive negotiations between the two sides first came to light.At the same time, sources in the building sector believe the deal between Ramet and Shmeltzer fell through after it transpired that the figures provided proved "unreliable." Real estate sources estimate that this was due among other things, to the fact that Ramet's liabilities exceed its assets. They also expect Shmeltzer to begin legal proceedings against Ramet.
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Israel is less exotic but just as attractive
2008-02-25 09:46:00
2007 was a record year from the aspect of mergers and acquisitions, and the volume of activity worldwide is unlikely to fall. As for mergers and acquisitions in Israel , until now Israeli companies that wanted to grow looked overseas, while on the other hand, foreign investors looking at the good macroeconomic data coming out of Israel saw opportunities. There are good businesses here, and growth rates are high despite everything, so Israel is attractive. There's a genuine reason for taking a look in Israel and so far the country has weathered the crisis well, a fact borne out by the substantial amounts that companies have managed to raise in recent years."On the other hand, Israel is now less exotic because of the credit crisis, since there are now more opportunities on other markets, which makes Israel more expensive.
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Demand for real estate is now brisk.
2008-02-23 16:51:00
The city started taking off some 12 years ago. That's when the Africa Israel Real Estate company started constructing a large residential complex called Kiryat Savyonim, which has 1,500 residential units and more than 6,000 residents. It had its own schools and shopping center, and was a city apart.The new quarter was built to a very high standard and attracted many yuppies. The apartments were large and airy, relatively inexpensive and suddenly nearly a quarter of the population belonged to a different social strata. Kiryat Savyonim, which was very much within the municipal boundaries of Yehud, became fashionable.
More About: Real Estate , Demand

US-Israeli developers plan Disney style theme park in Eilat
2008-02-20 23:35:00
The huge 1,300 dunam beachfront project, the largest in Israel, will be located in Eilat, near the border of Jordan. The project was planned and designed by the teams that helped create Walt Disney 's Epcot park in Orlando and is based on attractions at Disney World, MGM, and Universal Studios. Amusement rides will be mixed into areas that mimic the look of other cities including Hollywood, New Orleans, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, St. Tropez, and Venice.Sonnenblick-Goldman, a New York real-estate investment banking firm, is in charge of raising financing from US and European investors for the park.
More About: Style , Park , Theme , Developers

Ramat Gan's Elite Real Estate landmark
2008-02-17 23:42:00
In 2006, the Elite chocolate plant building was sold to Sonny Kahan of Crescent Heights, a Miami-based real estate developing company, for $44 million. Crescent Heights announced that it would build a luxury tower with real estate mogul Donald Trump.After a tremendous amount of media hype about a Trump Tower going up in Israel real estate, the project was shelved and the property was resold last year to Azorim, which is controlled by Boymelgreen Capital. The new project, the Azorim Elite Tower, will either be the tallest tower in Israel or else will be tied for that honor when completed.
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Perhaps it really is a bargain
2008-02-15 00:28:00
In less than a year, Africa-Israel Investments (TASE: AFIL) has gone from the status of the new "people's share" to being the outcast of the Tel Aviv 25 list. Since the peak registered last May, the share had fallen 60% before yesterday's upward correction, leaving many investors disappointed.But if you ask controlling shareholder Lev Leviev, Africa-Israel is actually a very interesting stock. "Africa-Israel is the biggest bargain on the market," Leviev said in warm defense of the stock at the International Rough Diamonds Conference that took place on Tuesday.
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Tel Aviv's Bitzaron and Ramat Israel Real Estate
2008-02-12 09:44:00
Bitzaron and Ramat Israel were built hastily in the early 1950s to provide housing for Holocaust survivors, mostly from Hungary and Romania, and for families from Yemen. The neighborhood currently has some 5,000 inhabitants. Over the years the area was considered a distressed neighborhood and was not afforded adequate urban development. But about eight years ago the infrastructures were improved and the gentrifiers began to arrive.
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Lev Leviev’s empire built on diamonds and real estate
2008-02-08 17:42:00
Lev Leviev is perhaps best known as the man who defied De Beers, the mighty cartel that controlled the flow of the world’s supply of rough diamonds.By doing so, Leviev has become one of the world’s richest men. Close friends claim he’s worth about $8 billion, but Forbes lists him at a conservative $4.1 billion.
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