Celebrity Home Buyers Receive Up To 15% Discount on Israeli Real Estate
Israeli celebrities are leveraging their star power to secure significant discounts on luxury real estate, with typical "celebrity discounts" on new apartments ranging around 10%, and potentially reaching 15% for top-tier stars.
This practice benefits both the celebrity and the real estate developer. When a well-known personality purchases a property, it generates substantial publicity for the project, effectively turning the sale into a marketing campaign. The celebrity's purchase lends credibility and desirability to the development, which developers find highly valuable, often more so than the cost of the discount itself.
Notable examples include actor Yehuda Levi, who purchased a mini-penthouse in the Ashira project in Sheva Dolev for approximately 8 million shekels. His relationship with the developer, Avissarur, expanded from this purchase to him becoming the company's spokesperson. Singer Noa Kirel bought a 133-square-meter mini-penthouse in the Rainbow project, also in Sheva Dolev, for about 10.18 million shekels. Her purchase, made during the early sales phase, coincided with her becoming the prominent face of the project, a strategy that also involved her parents and agent.
Magician Lior Suchard also purchased an apartment in the Utopia project in Sheva Dolev, valued at around 7 million shekels, further illustrating the trend of presenters buying in projects they promote. Developers often sweeten deals not just with price reductions but also with additional perks like extra parking spaces, upgraded kitchens, higher specifications, better views, or favorable payment terms, which can collectively amount to hundreds of thousands of shekels.
The discount is often a combination of a reduced purchase price and the marketing value the celebrity brings. For a developer, a 10% discount on a single apartment, even if it amounts to a million shekels, can be a highly cost-effective marketing expense if it helps sell dozens of other units in a large project.
