The housing market in Tel Aviv, which has been slow for a while, now faces additional pressures: the wave of layoffs in the technology industry and the appreciation of the shekel are starting to percolate through to demand for homes in Tel Aviv, according to a post from Deputy Chief Economist Galit Ben Naim in which she states that initial findings by the Ministry of Finance indicate that tech workers are buying fewer homes in the city.
Ben Naim referred to the sharp fall in secondhand homes in the Tel Aviv area in March, which continued into April, when just 86 homes in the city were sold, out of some 7,000 secondhand homes offered for sale. These are in addition to the 10,000 unsold new homes in Tel Aviv. Sales in urban renewal projects are 34% down on last year.
“Initial findings indicate a drop in the proportion of those employed in high tech among buyers of homes in Tel Aviv in April, particularly the proportion among buyers of secondhand homes, which was just 11%, in a city so much identified with technology workers,” Ben Naim wrote. She adds that although the proportion among buyers of new homes in Tel Aviv is 18%, “from analyses that we have carried out it emerges that this represents a significant decline.”
For years, technology workers were one of the main engines of demand for homes in Tel Aviv, partly because of the high prices in the city, with a four-room apartment now costing an average of $5 million. The high concentration of technology companies in the city and its immediate environs made their employees a natural target market for homes there. Any blow to the stability of employment in technology quickly impacts the market and the rate of sales.
Ben Naim also points out that only 35% of purchasers of new homes in Tel Aviv are locals, while the proportion among purchasers of secondhand homes is 66%.
“If you were wondering where these non-local buyers come from, the answer is fairly surprising. 12% do still come from the Tel Aviv district, particularly the expensive cities in the Sharon. Some perhaps intend to move from houses with gardens to towers in Tel Aviv. But we are also seeing representation of cities that we don’t usually see in purchases in Tel Aviv, such as Ofakim, Netivot, Beersheva, Dimona, and other places in the periphery.”
Ben Naim’s observations are seconded by sources in the real estate sector. Nir Shmoul, CEO and owner of Snir Real Estate Marketing & Urban Development, told “Globes”: “We are dealing with many Tel Aviv projects, and we’re seeing a decline in demand from buyers in high tech. One of the reasons for that is the effect of the low shekel-dollar exchange rate, as many high-tech workers hold in-the-money options denominated in dollars, and their shekel value has been eroded. The result is a 30-40% decline in the capacity of high-tech workers to buy apartments, leading many of them to sit on the fence and wait for a better opportunity when the exchange rate rises again.”
Guy Amosi CPA, CEO of Avison Young Israel says, “The layoffs in high tech will certainly affect other sectors. In the end, it’s a matter of sentiment. When people are laid off, or sense that the atmosphere is not stable, they prefer not to enter into long-term commitments.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 9, 2026.
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