Low dollar shakes up real estate market

The new reality of the dollar's weakness against the shekel is leaving its mark on some foreign buyers, while local purchasers appear to be benefiting from the weak US currency. "Fluctuation in the shekel-dollar exchange rate is not so much a problem of buyers but of sellers," said Benny Loval, general manager of the Anglo-Saxon Jerusalem real estate agency. "Sellers hold off selling their property or they adjust prices upwards." Similarly, Alyssa Friedland, co-owner of RE/MAX Vision and RE/MAX Capital in Jerusalem, said that as a result of the continued plunge of the dollar many sellers are setting a minimum dollar-shekel exchange rate to neutralize the impact of the volatility.