Home purchases in Israel by foreign residents fell to 2,241 homes in 2016, down 31% from 2015, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Finance. The sharpest fall was in Jerusalem where home purchases by foreign residents fell by 41% with a 25% fall in the Tel Aviv and Netanya regions.
The fall in home purchases in Israel by foreign residents was far sharper than in the entire market and means that only 2% of homes now purchased in Israel are bought by foreign residents.
The sharp fall was due not only to Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon's actions, including raising the purchase tax from 5% to 8-10% on luxury apartments, in addition to the elimination of the exemption from betterment tax that took effect in 2014, but also the strengthening of the shekel, making it more expensive for foreign residents to buy homes.
In Jerusalem, only two luxury apartments (over NIS 10 million) were bought by foreign residents in 2016, down from 12 in 2015.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 12, 2017
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