Tel Avivians Against Historic Preservation?

Tel Avivians Against Historic Preservation?

Next week Tel Avivians will celebrate “White Night”, the anniversary of UNESCO’s bestowing of the honor of a UN World Heritage Site onto Tel Aviv’s White City. The White City, a collection of over 4000 Bauhaus, Eclectic, and International Style buildings dating from the city’s birth in 1909 to the end of the 1930’s, is the world foremost site of the Bauhaus architectural style, the vast majority of the school being destroyed by the Nazis throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s.

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There ARE High Return Yields in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, and on the Beach!

There ARE High Return Yields in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, and on the Beach!

While we all know that the days of high yield returns in Central Tel Aviv for the average investor have passed, there are still some viable options to make in excess of 3.5% in areas farther afield in Jaffa and Herzliya. An investor can expect an average return of 2.5 – 3% in Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, sellers have already calculated the maximum the property could ever possibly be worth and take this out on the buyers. Fortunately, there are other options out there.

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How Much Are People Willing to Pay to Live in Tel Aviv? Apparently, Quite a lot…

How Much Are People Willing to Pay to Live in Tel Aviv? Apparently, Quite a lot…

“Tel Aviv is the center of it all”. “We have two countries here, the State of Israel, and the State of Tel Aviv”. “Oh what a dream it would be to live in Tel Aviv”. We’ve heard them all. It seems on the surface, that everyone in Israel would sell their first born to move within the relatively small borders of this city of 404,000 souls within 51 square kilometers / 19.8 square miles.

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2010 Is Done, What Should We Expect In 2011?

So 2010 has come to a close, and what a year it’s been. After a huge 2009, homebuyers and market observers alike foresaw a “bubble burst” in store for for 2010, which to homebuyers’ dismay, and to sellers’ advantage, did not happen this year. In fact, the two year trend of rising prices only continued steadily, despite the significant drop in deals made and customer demand.

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December 21, 2010 Market Update

We started the week with an overhaul by the Ministry of Finance of the Appreciation Tax here in Israel. In an attempt to bring more […]Read more

December 14, 2010 Market Update

December 14, 2010 Market Update

So who is buying apartments these days? As 2010 winds to a close, it’s not so easy to be a buyer in Tel Aviv. In order to enter into any real estate transaction one needs a certain degree of security, and it’s hard to have any sense of security when every day there seems to be a new article in any one of the newspapers here in Israel or elsewhere in the world, none of which says the same thing. One paper, for example,  last week remarked, “Is the Real Estate Market cooling? 3rd Quarter sees a drop in real estate transactions to its lowest point since 2006.” Meanwhile, just the very next day, another paper’s headline read, “Is the joy a bit premature? The real estate bubble is beginning to inflate as demand for apartments jumps 13.7% in October.”

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