Israeli Real Estate: Major Investors Shift Demand to Tiberias, Safed and Jerusalem
The Israeli real estate market is showing a shift in the geography of investment demand. According to an analysis by the Ministry of Finance’s chief economist, investors owning three or more apartments completed about 1,200 transactions in the first five months of 2026. Their share accounted for approximately 20% of all home purchases by investors. By comparison, this figure reached 30% in 2024. The average monthly number of transactions by major investors dropped from 375 to 240 properties.
The most notable decline in activity was recorded in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba. In Tel Aviv, the share of investors owning three or more apartments fell from 30% to 20%. In Haifa, the figure nearly halved to 16%, and in Beersheba, it dropped to 20%.
Simultaneously, a higher concentration of major investors is being observed in northern cities and Jerusalem. In the Tiberias tax district (Upper Galilee), buyers with three or more apartments accounted for nearly a quarter of all investors, while in Tiberias itself, their share reached 45%. Safed has also joined the ranks of cities with a high proportion of such buyers. In Jerusalem, the share of investors with three or more apartments grew to 23%.
According to the business daily Globes, experts attribute this trend to the activity of buyers from religious communities, who traditionally purchase multiple apartments. However, the current dynamics do not signify a complete withdrawal of investment capital from major central cities. Rather, they indicate a shift in the geography of demand and a growing interest in specific regional markets across Israel.
