The headline is a puzzle. Home buying in Israel is still stuck near its slowest pace in about twenty years. Yet Israelis borrowed more for homes in June than in any month in years. New figures from the Bank of Israel show June mortgages hit about 11 billion shekels. So people are taking bigger loans while fewer of them actually buy. The rate cuts are the reason, and we unpack it below.
Away from the numbers, the building pipeline had a busy day. Three separate urban renewal plans moved forward, in Haifa, Ramat Gan, and Nof HaGalil. Together they would put 2,731 new homes where 685 old ones stand today. A court fight in Ramat Gan could also change how the profit from these renewal deals gets split, which matters to anyone who owns a flat in an old building.
In policy, a Knesset committee voted to keep Israel’s housing fast-track alive for one more year. Tel Aviv is moving to unlock a large, stuck plot in the south of the city. And regulators tightened the screws on American property bonds that were sold to Israeli savers, after a run of blowups.
The week’s key data point still lands Wednesday, July 15, at 18:30, when the statistics bureau publishes its home price index. The next interest rate decision is not until September 3. And by noon today the state had to answer the High Court over who runs the Israel Land Authority. See the notes at the end.
Home loans hit a record while buyers stay on the sidelines
Here is the number that framed the day. In June 2026, Israelis took about 11.1 billion shekels in new mortgages, the Bank of Israel reported. A mortgage is the loan you take to buy a home. That was up 14.1 percent from May and roughly 24 percent from June a year earlier. It was the largest single month since the start of 2026 and one of the four biggest months in the last four years. Globes, Calcalist, Ynet, TheMarker, and Bizportal all reported the same Bank of Israel figures on July 12.
Now the odd part. Actual home sales are still frozen. Deal counts have been near a twenty year low, and the finance ministry’s own chief economist has shown that both new-build and resale sales fell hard this year. So how can borrowing jump while buying stays weak? Two forces. First, the Bank of Israel has cut its interest rate twice, down to 3.5 percent, which makes loans cheaper and pulls some buyers off the fence. About 70 percent of June’s rise over May came from the “prime” track, the part of a mortgage that moves directly with the central bank rate. Second, buyers who did sign are taking larger loans against pricier homes, and some are refinancing. Calcalist put it well: the brakes on the sales market did not reach the mortgage market.
Three figures we worked out from the Bank of Israel data, so you can check them:
- June alone was about 19 percent of all mortgage money for the whole first half of the year. In the first six months of 2026 Israelis took about 57.1 billion shekels in home loans, and 11.1 billion of that came in June. One month carried nearly a fifth of the half year.
- June ran about 16 percent above the monthly pace of the half. The six-month average works out near 9.5 billion shekels a month (57.1 divided by 6), so June’s 11.1 billion sat well above the trend.
- Borrowing rose even as buying fell. First-half home loans were about 7 billion shekels higher than a year earlier (57.1 billion versus 50.1 billion), a 14 percent jump, in a market where transactions are near their lowest in two decades. More money is moving on fewer sales.
Why it matters: if you are buying now, cheaper credit is real, but it is also pushing average loan sizes up. Borrow to fit the home and your income, not the bank’s new comfort with bigger loans. We explained why the last rate cut did little for monthly payments in our note on how rate cuts barely reach the mortgage, and why the sales side stayed frozen in our piece on the 20 year sales low.
Sources: Globes; Ynet; Calcalist; Bank of Israel monthly housing-loans report.
Three renewal towers moved forward in a single day
While the sales market naps, the planning machine kept building the pipeline. Three “pinui binui” plans advanced on July 12. Pinui binui means knocking down old apartment blocks and putting up bigger new ones on the same land, with the current owners getting new flats in the towers.
- Haifa, “The Gateway.” The city’s local planning committee advanced a plan by the Shoval group in western Haifa, near Bat Galim. It would replace four old four-story blocks holding about 128 flats with 618 new homes, plus shops, offices, and up to 200 hotel rooms. The tallest tower would reach 65 floors, which would make it the highest building in northern Israel, with a public viewpoint on top over Haifa Bay. Reported by Globes, Ynet, and TheMarker.
- Ramat Gan, the tallest home tower in Israel. The local committee recommended depositing a plan for the Jabotinsky and Hadar area (the Gefen quarter) with 1,095 homes. Its lead tower would climb to 85 floors, billed as the tallest residential building in the country. It would clear 26 old buildings and a gas station, about 316 flats today. Reported by trade outlet Magdilim and Merkaz HaNadlan. “Recommended for deposit” is an early step, so this is years from cranes.
- Nof HaGalil, a rare periphery win. The Northern District committee gave final approval to the “Mordot Atzmon” plan: 1,018 new homes in place of 241 old ones, on about 73 dunam (roughly 73,000 square meters), with public buildings and some shops. The striking part, per Bizportal, is that it pencils out without state money. Renewal in Israel’s outer towns usually needs a public subsidy to be worth a developer’s while, and this one does not.
Our figure: add the three and you get 2,731 new homes rising where 685 old ones stand, a net gain of about 2,046 apartments from one day of approvals. On each site the homes multiply between 3.5 and 4.8 times (Haifa 618 from 128, about 4.8 times; Ramat Gan 1,095 from 316, about 3.5 times; Nof HaGalil 1,018 from 241, about 4.2 times). That density is the whole point of renewal, and it is how Israel hopes to add supply without new open land.
Why it matters: none of these homes exist yet, and deposit or approval is not a building permit. But if you own an old flat in one of these areas, a plan like this can lift your value and, one day, hand you a new apartment. For the wider Haifa push, see our notes on the city’s biggest renewal plan and the oil-tank land. For Ramat Gan value, see where the value is in Ramat Gan.
Sources: Globes (Haifa); Magdilim (Ramat Gan); Bizportal (Nof HaGalil).
A court fight could change who profits from renewal
Owners in a Ramat Gan renewal project took a question to Israel’s top court that could touch renewal deals across the country. The fight is about the “extra” a developer gives each owner when an old building comes down and a new one goes up.
Here is the background in plain terms. In a renewal deal, owners hand over their old flats and get new, larger ones. For years the norm was a uniform addition: every owner got the same extra floor space. In May a district court said that a flat, equal add-on is not always fair, because a person who started with a bigger apartment may deserve more, and it ordered the developer to pay a “balancing payment” to one owner who had a larger flat. A balancing payment is cash paid to even out unequal shares in a deal. Now a group of owners has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. Globes, Ynet, and TheMarker all covered the appeal on July 12.
Industry voices say the May decision “shook” urban renewal, because it reopens a settled question: does everyone get the same, or does the split follow the size and value each owner brought in? If the Supreme Court sides with unequal shares, developers and planners may have to redo the sums on many projects.
Why it matters: if you own a flat in a building headed for renewal, do not assume every neighbor will get the same deal. Ask early how the shares and any balancing payments are set, and get it in writing before you sign. This is one appeal, not a final rule, so the ground is still moving.
Israel keeps its housing fast-track alive, for one more year
A Knesset committee voted to extend the country’s housing fast-track by a single year. The tool is called the VATMAL, a national committee that can approve large housing plans quickly, skipping some of the slower local steps. Its legal life was running out.
The Interior and Environment Committee, chaired by MK Yitzhak Kroizer, approved the bill for its final readings on July 12. The extension is shorter than the government wanted. The state first asked for two more years; the committee granted one, so the fast-track will keep taking new plans only until August 9, 2027. Part of the deal, per Calcalist, ties the extension to a separate move that would let rural communities grow. The bill now goes to a final vote in the full Knesset.
Why it matters: the fast-track is one of the main ways Israel pushes big new neighborhoods through planning. A one year renewal, rather than two, means developers and cities have a tighter window to file large plans, which could speed a rush of filings before the deadline. For how these supply tools work, see our piece on Israel’s new-home pipeline.
Sources: Ynet; Merkaz HaNadlan; Calcalist.
Tel Aviv moves to unlock a big, stuck plot in the south
Tel Aviv is trying to break a years-long logjam on one of its largest planned neighborhoods. The site is the “Nes LaGoyim” area in the south of the city, near Jaffa, about 214 dunam (roughly 214,000 square meters, or 53 acres). A plan approved back in 2017 by the city and the Israel Land Authority would build about 1,600 homes there, plus around 25,000 square meters of shops and offices and about 400 hotel rooms.
The plan has barely moved for years. The land has existing holders who must be cleared and paid first, and a court said building cannot start before those compensation deals are done. TheMarker reported on July 13 that the municipality may step in as the central player to push the project ahead, and could capture a large share of the value it creates. That value-capture point is TheMarker’s reporting, not an official filing, so treat it as a report for now.
Why it matters: this is another large south Tel Aviv housing site inching back to life. Nothing is buildable yet, and the compensation knot is real. But south Tel Aviv near Jaffa is exactly where the city has the most room to add homes, so it is worth watching over the next few years.
Source: TheMarker; plan details from the Israel Land Authority and Tel Aviv municipality (plan TA/4100).
A crackdown on American property bonds sold to Israelis
Israel’s markets watchdog moved against a corner of real estate that has burned local savers. Over the past decade, American real-estate firms raised hundreds of millions of shekels by selling bonds on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. A bond is a loan from investors to a company, repaid with interest. Israeli pension and mutual funds bought many of them. Several have now blown up.
On July 13, TheMarker and Globes reported that the Israel Securities Authority, the body that polices the stock market, set new disclosure demands on foreign bond issuers. This follows a string of failures. A firm called Simad collapsed about two months ago. More recently, the bonds of Cohen Properties fell sharply after the regulator found serious problems, including money the controlling owner drew for private use. De Lasser is another name in the same troubled group. The authority is also rolling out a clearer disclosure guide for real-estate companies that sell shares or bonds. Insiders told the papers that the odds of foreign firms raising money in Israel are now dropping fast.
Why it matters: this is not about buying a home. It is about how Israelis invest in real estate through the stock market. If you or your pension holds Israeli-listed bonds of foreign property companies, the rules are tightening and the risks are in the open. Read the disclosures, and do not treat a high yield as a safe one. A bond that pays a lot often pays a lot because it is risky.
What we checked and set aside
- Bank Hapoalim’s office sale and the Beit Shemesh “revenge lawsuit”: both broke over the weekend and are already in our July 12 brief. No new development today.
- The “frozen sales” story: the finance ministry’s chief economist again showed weak sales, but the freeze is a beat we already cover. We used it above only to frame the mortgage puzzle, not as fresh news.
- A Ramla mega-plan and a Jerusalem office tower contract: single-outlet items whose specific numbers we could not confirm with a second source. Held back rather than shipped unverified.
- Israel’s priciest listing: a 210 million dollar Caesarea estate got a fresh marketing video, but the listing itself is not new, so there is no news event to report.
- Deal columns and features: weekend roundups of single sales, a Beersheba old-city piece, and a road-maintenance feature. Interesting, but not market-moving.
Dates to watch
- Monday, July 13, noon: the state had to tell the High Court whether it accepts the court’s plan for who leads the Israel Land Authority (see the update note below).
- Wednesday, July 15, 18:30: the Central Bureau of Statistics releases its home price index, covering roughly April and May deals, together with June inflation. This is the week’s most important number.
- Thursday, September 3: the Bank of Israel’s next interest rate decision. There is no rate meeting before then, so today’s cheaper credit holds through the summer.
Update for an existing post (no new page needed)
- israel-moves-to-void-its-new-land-authority-chief: add that the state faced a hard deadline of Monday, July 13, at noon to accept or reject the High Court’s compromise on who runs the Israel Land Authority. The court’s plan would end Yehuda Eliyahu’s term as director on July 19, void his permanent appointment, and re-run parts of the selection. The attorney general has also opposed keeping him on as acting head. Watch for the state’s filing and the court’s next move. Sources: Globes and Calcalist, July 9 to 13.
Source
Bank of Israel monthly report on housing loans
Globes on June mortgages (July 12)
Ynet on June mortgages (July 12)
Calcalist on June mortgages (July 12)
Globes English on the Haifa 65-floor tower (July 12)
Magdilim on the Ramat Gan 85-floor plan (July 9)
Bizportal on Nof HaGalil “Mordot Atzmon” (July 12)
Globes on the Supreme Court renewal appeal (July 12)
Ynet on the VATMAL one-year extension (July 12)
Calcalist on the VATMAL extension deal (July)
TheMarker on Tel Aviv and the Nes LaGoyim plan (July 13)
TheMarker on the securities authority and foreign property bonds (July 13)
