War and Holidays Send April Real Estate Deals to a Historic Low
Housing market activity was very weak in April 2026 as well, mainly because of the “seasonal” events unique to this month, which appear to have all coincided. According to a review published today (Wednesday) by the Chief Economist’s Department at the Ministry of Finance, 5,081 new and second-hand apartments were purchased in April, down 31% from March 2026 and 19% from April 2025. Developers’ sales totaled about 2,107 apartments, a 11% decline from April 2025 and a 25% drop from March 2026. In April 2026, 2,974 second-hand apartments were sold, down 24% from April last year and 35% from March 2026. ● Back to high levels: new mortgages in May, about NIS 9.7 billion ● Considering buying an additional apartment? What to expect from purchase tax ● No parking and no rent: tenants give up benefits to save evacuation and reconstruction projects
“Compared with the multi-year number of transactions in the free market in April, it is found that this level in April 2026 is among the lowest recorded since the early 2000s, and only in April 2023 and 2020, at the outbreak of COVID, were lower transaction levels recorded,” the review said. “Developers’ sales in the free market are also close to the bottom of the ranking.” Officials in the Chief Economist’s Department emphasize that “in the first week of April, Operation Roar of the Lion was still underway, although the seven days of fighting that month occurred in parallel with Passover (including the intermediate festival days).” It can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that these two significant “events” had a major impact on the April 2026 figures, although it should be noted that Passover also fell in April 2025, and last month’s figures are significantly lower than those as well. “The number of transactions in April 2026 is especially low, גם in historical terms,” the Chief Economist’s review concluded.
Negative cash flow
The review also presents the actual cash flow of developers from the sale of new apartments. Before deducting inputs, the cash flow last April stood at NIS 5.4 billion, a real decrease of 16% compared with April 2025. After deducting inputs, developers’ actual cash flow in April 2026 was negative, at minus NIS 200 million, a figure that does not include financing expenses. It should be noted that this is not the first month in which actual cash flow, after deducting inputs, was negative. It was also negative in March 2023, and in January, March and July 2025, and in some of those months by an even larger margin.
Officials in the Chief Economist’s Department further note that the share of transactions in which a financing benefit was reported stood in April at 21% of total developers’ sales in the free market, two percentage points lower than the previous month. Compared with April 2025, this is a drop of 17 percentage points. It was also noted that in all the regions examined, there was a decline in the prevalence of financing benefits compared with April 2025, “however, it is still relatively high in the Central District (35%) and in the Netanya area (28%),” the review said.
Greater Tel Aviv weakness in the second-hand market
As noted, the decline in transactions in April was also seen naturally in the second-hand market. According to the Chief Economist’s findings, the sharpest weakness was recorded in the Tel Aviv area. Only 128 apartments were sold in the Tel Aviv real estate taxation district, which includes Bat Yam, for example, in April, a 54% decline compared with April last year, the steepest rate of decline nationwide. “Another finding that indicates the especially low level of transactions in this area is the fact that it is only about 30 transactions higher than the Tiberias real estate taxation district, the district with the lowest number of transactions.”
Tel Aviv itself also showed major weakness. In April 2026, only 86 second-hand apartments were purchased in the city, a sharp drop of 59% compared with April last year. In the first four months of 2026, purchases in Tel Aviv fell by 34% compared with the same period last year. Here too, this was the sharpest decline nationwide, while the national average showed only a 6% drop.
Foreign residents are not rushing in
Investor purchases in April totaled 751 apartments, down 12% from April 2025. Their share of total transactions stood at 15%. Investor sales in April totaled 922 apartments, down 28% compared with the same period last year. Total purchases by foreign residents, included within the investor segment, stood at 77 apartments in April, compared with 106 apartments in April last year and 177 apartments in March 2026. After subtracting the apartments sold by foreign residents in April, the segment’s net purchases totaled 56 apartments, compared with 67 apartments in April last year. The meaning is that despite the statements, foreign residents are still not “rushing” into the Israeli apartment market.
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