Israelis often call Tel Aviv the “State of Tel Aviv.” They are not referring to a state of mind like “the New York state of mind” but rather they refer to the belief of many Tel Avivians that their city is a State unto itself, a world unto itself, indeed a universe unto itself.
Property in Tel Aviv is the most expensive in the country and perhaps the whole Middle East. It is indeed the “Manhattan” of Israel.
An article in the Globes newspaper from April 2012 named the area of Tel Aviv called “Lev Ha’ir” (the heart of the city in Hebrew) the most expensive area from a real estate perspective. This area is located in the center of Tel Aviv between King George St., Ben Zion Blvd., Rothchild Blvd. and Allenby St.
It also is an integral part of historical Tel Aviv with many buildings built in the eclectic Bauhaus style for which Tel Aviv is famous. This may be the reason that this area is a popular place to live, whereas the centers of other cities in Israel are currently no so sought after for residential purposes.
Whatever the reason, this area is the most expensive area of the most expensive city in Israel. Other areas in Tel Aviv such as the Ramat Aviv and Bavli neighborhoods come in as close seconds for the title of the most expensive real estate in the city.
Several neighborhoods, located in the southern part of the city are up and coming alternatives to “Lev Hair”. These neighborhoods include Neve Sharret, Florentine, Yad Eliyahu and Kiryat Shalom. The prices in these neighborhoods have risen in the past few years (although they are still cheaper than Lev Hair), whereas the prices of apartments in the Lev Hair neighborhood have fallen slightly.
A four-room apartment in Neve Sharret sold for 2,202,798 NIS at the beginning of 2012. This is an increase of 2.80% over the price in 2011 according to the Globes article. The price of a four room apartment in Lev Hair was 3,097148 NIS at the beginning of 2012. This is a drop of 0.49% from 2011.
It certainly seems that the heart of Tel Aviv is indeed golden from a real estate investment point of view.
