There was a discussion two years ago about the Azurim plan to convert the workshops and offices area at Yermiyahu Street and AHHOLIAV Street near the western entrance to Jerusalem to 14-20 residential floors.
Looking at the plans, the Planning and Building Committee in the Jerusalem County, between the President of Shira Talmi Babai, asked about the place of playing 2000 children to play. Illizer Rothsbarger, head of the local planning and construction committee, answered that there will be no 500 children there, because the children of apartments will be in New York, Montreal and Toronto. Rokperger said that Azurim will not bother them until the marketing of apartments in Jerusalem due to high prices.
Investigations by “Globes” have found that dozens of these projects are more than 10 million NIS in an apartment under construction, designed for the Jewish foreign population. The previous experience shows that most of the buyers of these apartments are neither Israelis nor foreign residents who have plans to migrate to Israel, but wealthy buyers are looking for an apartment that is still empty for most of the year.
In the past, the municipalities were not quick to admit that they encourage the development of “ghost” apartments in their planning policies, but in Jerusalem, this era appears to have ended, and it can be obtained from the discussion between Rauchberger and Talmi Babay.
However, the municipality claims that it works to prevent the increase in this phenomenon, but even if this is true, the data shows that any procedures do not significantly affect the situation.
Municipal profits, but what about the residents of Jerusalem
The Ghost Apartments case arose for the first time during social protests in 2011. Activists then claimed that there are large cities, including Jerusalem, Will Obib and Tintania, where some projects were built exclusively for the wealthy foreign population, and at prices that wealthy Israelis are facing opposite difficulty. Consequently, activists insisted, the real offer of apartments in these cities was much smaller than the width on paper. In this field, projects were already found with entire marketing abroad and foreign languages.
Activists claimed that this practice was encouraged by the municipalities, because it won them: the municipality receives high taxes on property on these apartments, while its residents need a few municipal services, because most of them do not live in apartments in everything, and do not rent them, but rather use them As homes for holidays.
The buyers of the apartments in Tel Aviv did this mainly during their summer vacations, while buyers in Jerusalem, most of whom come from religious residents and Orthodox in English -speaking countries, visit apartments during Texri holidays and Easter.
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This is not just a problem to exclude the local population from many areas in cities – for example, The Seafront Promnade and Hayarkon Street in Tel Aviv; NAT-600 SEAFRORON in Netanya; And regions such as the village of David in Mamila, Jerusalem – but also about infringement of local lands and interests and the planning and construction system in urban and local areas, in favor of people who are not residents and do not belong to the urban social fabric.
The efforts made to force the owners of Ghost Apartments to rent them because few local population can withstand such high rents.
How many ghost apartments in Israel?
How many ghost apartments exist? The answer to the question is not simple, because a minority of empty apartments only meets the file of ghost apartments. Most empty apartments are not ghost apartments, but houses that are not suitable for housing, or apartments in a bad condition have been empty for a long period of time.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2022, there were about 200,000 empty apartments in Israel. However, the Knelsset Research and Information Center, which fought to various sources in an attempt to estimate the number of ghost apartments, concluded that four years ago, there were about 38,000 apartments in Israel that received the definition of apartments that rarely occupy, an increase of about 33 % over a year 2011 – But this is also an estimate.
The most accurate number in relation to Jerusalem came from the municipality nine years ago. At that time, the Minister of the Interior gave municipalities to charge the owners of Ghost Apartments. The Jerusalem municipality conducted an inspection on the basis of water meters and found that there are 6,500 apartments like this in the city at that time. However, the Ministry of Interior's statement has ended since then.
The Jerusalem municipality told “Globes”, it is very difficult to monitor the extent of the phenomenon, because it cannot be known for certainty when the apartment is busy, and when it is empty, and what are the reasons. There are no legal measures that would help reduce the phenomenon at the national level.
“A few years ago, there was a list by the Minister of Interior, which allowed such apartments dual real estate taxes. Double property.
Foreign population strengthens their grip on Jerusalem
To what extent, the luxury housing market in Jerusalem is an exception to the comprehensive luxury market in Israel? The data examination between 2021 and 2023 (the final data for 2024 has not been published that the total number of transactions for apartments worth 10 million NIS or more in the city constitutes 2.5 % of all transactions that were implemented there, while in the national level it is only 0.5 %.
Although the rate of luxury deals in Tel Aviv (more than 10 million NIS) reaches about 5 % of all deals that were implemented in the city, the luxurious Tel Aviv market depends on the local population. The average price of apartments in Tel Aviv is approximately 50 % higher than those in Jerusalem (according to the Central Bureau of Statistics) and in Tel Aviv, there are quite a few neighborhoods in the highest two economic groups (9 and 10), while Jerusalem is one of The poorest cities in Israel.
The Ministry of Finance data indicates that in recent years, the number of foreign population who buy apartments in Tel Aviv has decreased significantly, while in Jerusalem, in contrast, this phenomenon has decreased significantly. On average, the foreign population bought about 100 apartments per month in the city last year, or about two -thirds of all purchases by the foreign population in Israel.
Along with increasing purchases by the foreign population in Jerusalem, the number of luxury deals in the city has jumped in recent years. While the ISRASEL website has registered less than 20 annual deals in Jerusalem, which is more than 10 million New between 2015 and 2020, in each of the past three years, more than 70 such traits have been made in the city.
Consequently, there is increasing concern that the city is inhabited by a new wave of ghost apartments, especially in the towers that are built and planned in the city, and some, in the heart of the city, are a major goal for the foreign population.
There are many differences between the current wave of ghost apartments and the previous wave that struck the city about 15 years ago: at that time, the apartments were less dense and closer to the old city, such as the village of David in Mamila.
Another difference is the size of the apartments. Previously, they were all very large, while there are now two apartments and three bedrooms.
The third difference is that the apartments were previously empty for several months, but today the awareness of short -term rents is much higher, and the estimates of local real estate specialists are that some apartments are rented on Airbnb for 1000 NIS per night and more.
More than 30 projects with apartments cost 8 million or more
“Globes” found that there are currently more than 30 new projects in Jerusalem, where the apartments cost 8 million NIS. Not all towers, there are also projects in new buildings that reach 10 floors, where prices are very high, but there is definitely a relationship between the number of towers and the number of luxury deals.
The average luxury deal in Jerusalem is about 65,000 New meters per square meter, but the price range is very high, ranging from 50,000 NIS per square meter to sites where prices reach more than 90,000 shekels per square meter. In a tower near Agippas and Machane Yehuda Street, which will have 31 floors, apartments were sold between 8 and 28 million NIS. The 33 -storey tower on Yermiyahu Street has seen apartments sold in recent months between 8 and 13 million NIS. In the Old Sher Zaidik Hospital complex on the Jaffa road, a 42 -storey city center was built by Israel, and in recent months the apartments have been sold between 8 and 11.6 million New. In the 31-storey towers built on the CAF-Het Street project by Mahane Yehuda, three apartments were recently sold at prices ranging from 10.8 to 27.8 million NIS.
Al -Quds Municipality: “Work to reduce the number of empty apartments
“The empty apartments are often located mainly in the prestigious areas of the city – the city center and the historic city. Most of their Jews are from abroad. The reason is to place the city as a global center for the Jewish mushroom and the leading tourist city,” the Jerusalem municipality said.
“The municipal policy encourages the purchase of residential apartments, which leads to an increase in the population that not only brings the economic value of the city but also the movement in public places, the development of employment, cultural, entertainment, and sports, and everything that the city must put in the city to display its residents.
“The municipality maintains a continuous dialogue with the developers and works to reduce the phenomenon of empty apartments by insisting on the introduction of a large number of rental housing projects in the city center and in general, as well as by ensuring a mixture of apartments that include smaller apartments, an intense mixture of uses with the commercial space, Less attractive things for the public interested in buying an apartment for non -residential purposes. Urban in the city, where the phenomenon is less common. “
It was published by Globes, Israel Business News – En.globes.co.il – on February 23, 2025.
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