Apartment purchase tax threshold raised to NIS 925,000

The purchase tax brackets have actually been lowered for second homes.

Hadas Magen 21 Jan 08 15:47

The new threshold on the purchase tax on apartments has been raised to NIS 925,000 from NIS 850,000. The other purchase tax brackets are unchanged from the previous adjustment: 3.5% on apartments costing up to NIS 1.3 million, and 5% on apartments costing more than this.
The purchase tax brackets have actually been lowered for second homes: 3.5% on apartments costing up to NIS 772,000, down from NIS 787,000; and 5% on apartments costing more than NIS 772,000.

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Real estate purchases by Americans said to be slowing

"The second intifada really brought down the market and the number of foreign buyers here dropped considerably," [David Baruch], who left his position as CEO of the Bank of Jerusalem earlier this month, told The Jerusalem Post on his last day on the job. "But then, on the other hand, over the last three years, the violence has mostly dropped off, and coupled with a rise of anti-Semitism around the world, we have seen an unprecedented run of foreigners buying up real estate across the city."

"It is really the dream of so many American Jews to be able to own a piece of property in the Holy City and the Bank of Jerusalem has helped a large percentage of them in making it a reality," he said, estimating that the bank handles approximately 40 percent of all foreign mortgages in Jerusalem. "We are more familiar to people in New York than in Herzliya and we can attribute our success to the fact that we have built our activities specifically for foreigners."

"In 2008, high demand will continue to push prices in the Jerusalem real estate market higher," Baruch said. "However, American Jews, who have been purchasing apartments across the city at a very fast rate, will buy apartments at a slower clip as the effects of this year's subprime crisis set in."

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The garden city north of Tel Aviv

At the moment, the decision to live in Hod Hasharon is largely financial as a 100 to 120 square meter apartment in the middle- class areas of Tel Aviv can cost some $500,000 compared to approximately $320,000 in Hod Hasharon.

"The price of an average 100 sq. m. apartment in Hod Hasharon is approximately $330,000 compared to $500,000 in Tel Aviv, $400,000 in Ra'anana and $360,000 in Kfar Saba," according to Dror Limor the Re/MAX franchisee in Hod Hasharon.

"We have adapted our new projects to this demand for extra large apartments. Even three-room apartments have to be 110 sq.m., on average," says Edna Hasson deputy general manager marketing at the Prizat Hasson real estate company, which builds extensively in Hod Hasharon. "A four-room apartment of 130 to 140 sq. m. is common in our projects. The same holds true for penthouses and garden apartments. Customers demand large open spaces terraces or roofs and large gardens - 100 sq. m. of terrace or 200 sq. m. of garden are not uncommon in our building projects."

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Israel joins U.S. probe of Gilad Sharon over alleged $1.8M fra

Israel Police's national fraud unit has for over two years been conducting a criminal investigation of Gilad Sharon, son of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, on suspicion that he served as a conduit for transfering to his father $1.8 million from businessman Arie Genger.

Police suspect the money was transfered to Gilad Sharon in the guise of profits from a real-estate deal in Canada, details of which are contained in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court a week ago by Dalia Genger against her ex-husband, Arie, Gilad Sharon and their American lawyers.

Delek Real Estate in talks

JERUSALEM, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Israel's Delek Real Estate Ltd (DLKR.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Sunday it is in talks with Netherlands-based investment group Kardan NV (KRNV.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) (KARD.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) to sell or merge its residential activity in Israel.

You can always go downtown

Around 50 years ago, city-dwellers began picking up and deserting the center of town, opting instead for green suburbs and satellite towns. A number of years ago, this trend reversed and many middle-aged couples decided to move from their single family homes with yards to plush apartments in town. As with other trends, Israel was not far behind.

Gaydamak in negotiations to take control of Atlas Estate Ltd

After acquiring control over Ocif Investments, Israeli-Russian billionaire has his eyes on another real estate company, seeking to acquire 18% of Atlas Estates for 65 million euros.
Arcadi Gaydamak is now in talks with Gadi and Dror Danker for the acquisition of 18% of the shares of Atlas Estates Ltd., which is currently controlled by Elran Real Estate, Yedioth Ahronoth had learned.