It’s a Buyer’s Moment: A Smart Buyer’s Guide to Working With Developers

The latest government data shows new-home sales up about 25%, and many buyers are wondering whether they’ve missed their chance. The fuller picture is different. More than a third of those sales were subsidized deals that most buyers from abroad can’t use. Developers are holding nearly 86,000 unsold apartments, and national prices are down 1.8% over the year. For overseas buyers, that pressure shows up as a constant stream of ads, campaigns, and events, and it can be hard to know which ones are worth a second look. This step-by-step guide explains how to work through the noise, evaluate the offers, and make the most of what is a rare window.

My inbox and WhatsApp never really go quiet. Every morning I wake up to messages that came in overnight from New York and Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, and Johannesburg. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a growing sense of urgency in them. People want to secure a home in Israel, and many are looking to move some of their assets out of the country they live in. Naturally, they want to do it wisely, at the right time and in the right way.

Buying in Israel from abroad is a journey, and it rarely moves in a straight line. Along the way, buyers are flooded from every direction. Developers and agents compete for their attention with ad campaigns, special offers and real estate events, while headlines, conflicting advice and half-answers pour in from WhatsApp groups and social media. Much of it is unprofessional, and very little of it is put in context. Helping people make sense of it all, with honest, independent and current information, is what I’ve focused on for over 20 years, through Buyitinisrael, the On The House podcast, and my work with buyers one-on-one.

Last week’s figures are a good example of why that matters.

What the Headline Didn’t Tell You

The Central Bureau of Statistics reported about 10,110 new apartments sold between June and August, roughly 25% more than a year earlier. Within hours, people were writing to ask me whether the market was taking off again and whether they needed to hurry. The detail tells a different story.

About 3,620 of those sales were government-subsidized, mostly through the Target Price program, which is generally open only to Israeli citizens who don’t already own a home. On the open market, developers sold about 6,490 new apartments over the entire summer. The year-on-year comparison is also flattered by June 2025, when the war with Iran pushed sales to their lowest level in years. Meanwhile, about 85,680 new apartments were still unsold at the end of August, enough to last almost 27 months at the current pace. National prices are down 1.8% over the past year, the longest run of annual declines in a decade.

For anyone buying in Israel on the open market, this means more room to negotiate than there has been in years. Here is how I recommend approaching it.

Step 1: Understand Your Tax Status and Build It Into Your Budget

This is the first conversation I have with every overseas buyer, and it often comes as a surprise. A foreign resident is taxed as an investor, even if the apartment will be the family’s only home in Israel and they fully intend to live in it. Investor purchase tax starts at 8% of the price, while Israeli residents buying a sole home pay far less. On a typical family apartment, the difference can reach hundreds of thousands of shekels. Importantly, what matters is residency, not citizenship. The tax authority looks at where you actually live, so even an Oleh or Israeli citizen living abroad is generally treated as a foreign resident.

None of this should stop you from buying. What matters is understanding the cost from the start and building it into your budget, so you aren’t caught off guard. New immigrants are entitled to significant purchase-tax benefits within set windows around their aliyah date, so if aliyah is on your horizon, the timing of your purchase is worth weighing carefully. Either way, speak with an Israeli lawyer or tax advisor who works with overseas buyers and olim before you sign. A clear picture of your tax position is one of the most valuable things you can have going in.

Step 2: Know Which Market You’re Shopping In

What I see day to day, and what the data confirms, is that Israel now has two housing markets. Resale homes in the established Anglo neighborhoods are holding firm. These include Rehavia and Baka in Jerusalem, Ra’anana, Ir Yamim in Netanya, the Buchman neighborhood in Modi’in, and parts of Efrat. They are the streets near the shuls, English-friendly schools, and communities that draw buyers from abroad. Demand there has stayed steady, and prices in the Jerusalem district fell just 0.2% over the year, compared with 2.7% in the Center. Owners know buyers keep coming, and most feel little pressure to negotiate.

New construction is a different conversation, even in Jerusalem, which has the country’s largest stock of unsold new apartments, about 10,250 units. New-build sales there fell by about a quarter from the spring. This is a good moment to revisit assumptions. Many buyers I speak with started set on a specific neighborhood or a second-hand apartment, and some chose differently once they saw what new construction offers today. That might be a new building on the edge of an established community, an early stage of a new project in a growing neighborhood, or terms that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. You don’t have to give up what matters to you, but make sure you’ve seen the full range of options before you decide.

Step 3: Find the Developers Who Need to Sell

Developers aren’t all under the same pressure. Those with strong balance sheets can wait, but those facing financing deadlines or slow-moving projects are far more willing to negotiate. Whenever I look at a project for a buyer, I ask these questions and dig into the answers:

• How many units have sold, and since when? A slow-selling project is usually more flexible.
• How far along is construction? A nearly finished building with many unsold units is a clear sign of a motivated developer.
• What have units in the project sold for? Compare actual sale prices with the price list.
• What else is being built nearby? Competing projects in the same area put pressure on prices and terms.
• What incentives are available right now? Ask about financing, upgrades, and any deadlines.

A good broker or sales representative should be able to answer these questions and should have ways of finding out even when there’s no official data. The more you know going in, the stronger your position at the negotiating table.

Step 4: Ask About Financing, Then Do the Math

Developer financing has made a strong comeback, and the offers vary widely. They include 10/90 and 20/80 payment structures, interest-free or subsidized loans, deferred payment schedules, and exemptions from index linkage, and I’ve even seen deals that lock in an exchange rate. For foreign buyers, terms like these can make a real difference. Paying most of the price at handover gives you time to sell your home overseas, transfer funds in stages, arrange an Israeli mortgage when it’s needed, and worry less about exchange-rate swings along the way.

That said, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Every incentive has a cost somewhere, so it’s important to understand how each one affects the price you actually pay. A deferred balance is often linked to the construction input index, which rose 3.6% over the past year. A subsidized loan may be built into a higher list price. And unless your exchange rate is fixed, a currency swing can erase a discount entirely. Always compare the total cost with a straightforward cash price. The right deal isn’t necessarily the one with the most comfortable payment schedule. It’s the one that makes sense overall and fits your timing and your plans.

Step 5: Negotiate on More Than Price

Developers rarely cut list prices publicly, because doing so affects their project valuations, their financing, and the buyers who have already signed. Their flexibility shows up elsewhere, and that is where the real negotiation happens. The biggest savings usually come from the terms described in Step 4: the payment structure, the index linkage, and the financing. These deserve the most attention at the negotiating table. Beyond them, these are the other points I raise with developers on behalf of buyers:

• Upgrades and finishes: upgraded kitchens, flooring, bathroom fittings, or air-conditioning.
• Extras: a parking spot, a storage room or a larger balcony at no extra cost.
• Transaction costs: a contribution toward the developer’s legal fees, which buyers usually pay.
• Delivery date and guarantees: a handover timed to your plans, with clear compensation if the developer is late.
• Apartment selection: a better floor, view, or layout at the same price.

None of these concessions show up in the official price indices, which is one reason the headlines understate how much room buyers really have today. Taken together, a well-negotiated package of terms can be worth far more than a modest discount on the list price.

If You’re Thinking About It

The headlines say sales are surging. The detail shows developers holding more than two years of inventory and competing harder for open-market buyers. For buyers from abroad who are well informed, well guided, and willing to stay flexible, buying in Israel today offers real opportunity.

If you’re weighing a purchase, you’re welcome to get in touch. I don’t represent any developer, and every buyer’s situation is different. I start by understanding each client’s needs, goals, timing, and budget, and then search the market with those in mind. I also work with investors looking for bulk purchases and other opportunities that today’s market is creating.