Home sales are on the rise in Tel Aviv with a return of foreign buyers

Is the Tel Aviv real estate market coming back? The evidence would suggest that, yes, indeed it is. For the first time in three quarters, the volume of home sales in Tel Aviv and Israel on a whole have risen, up 12% from the final quarter of 2011. In Tel Aviv, the amount of apartment sales has doubled, which according to the Israeli Tax Authority, is the result of the return of foreign buyers to the market. According to the official records, foreigners made up 25% of the purchases in the first three months of 2012, which is four times the national rate. Nationally, young couples, who were the first to wait in purchasing properties last year as the social protests began, accounted for 42% of the apartments purchased this year. Prices in Central Tel Aviv, it should be noted, have not fallen, though neighborhoods in the periphery have indeed fallen as much as 5%. Foreign and domestic demand for prime properties in the city’s center has not fallen, which could hasten a jump start in the typically busy summer months.