The war, the protests against Israel, and the surge in antisemitism have triggered a shift in the real estate market: a sharp rise in interest in purchasing properties by foreign residents and Jews from the Diaspora, from the U.S., the U.K., as well as Australia and the Emirates. They are no longer looking for small apartments as investments, but for homes to live in. ‘I’m no longer going to Manhattan,’ says a Brooklyn resident who purchased an apartment in Israel. The leading destinations: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya, and Beit Shemesh.
For Sharon, a New York resident, the choice of an anti-Israel politician was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Like her, many Jews from the U.S., Europe, and even the Emirates are experiencing the rising wave of antisemitism, and something in their sense of personal security has cracked, leading them to take a much more serious interest in purchasing homes to live in Israel. Purchase data from recent months point to a shift.
‘ The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York shocked us,’ Sharon, a Brooklyn resident, told Mamon this week. She is a mother of three who recently purchased a four-room apartment in Beit Shemesh together with her husband. ‘The pressure and anxiety began after the events of October 7. The entire Jewish community in the neighborhoods fell into a state of intense fear, and in my husband the decision crystallized to buy an apartment in Israel.
