Clal Insurance, Amot buy Petah Tikva building for $19.5m

IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) subsidiary Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS) and Alony Hetz Property and Investments Ltd. (TASE: ALHE) subsidiary Amot Investments Ltd. (TASE:AMOT) have jointly bought the 14,000-sq.m. Beit Aurec in Petah Tikva for $19.5 million. The building is leased to AIG Israel, 012 Golden Lines, and Golden Channels in long-term leases, and generates a net operating profit of $1.6 million a year for a return on investment of 8.2%.
This is the first time that IDB chairman and CEO Nochi Dankner and Alony Hetz chairman and CEO Natan Hetz are collaborating in real estate.

Rising demand for office space pushes rents higher

The office space market is recovering quickly after a five-year low, and prices are rebounding to the peak levels of 2000.
One extreme example of the this is the deal that Meshulam Levinstein Contracting and Engineering Ltd. is about to sign; Levinstein will lease the top two floors, the 30th and 31st, of the Levinstein Tower (also called Discount Tower) on the corner of Yehuda Halevi and Herzl Streets in Tel Aviv, to two US investment houses, for a record price of $27 per sq.m., per month, the likes of which have not been seen since the heady days of 2000.
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Bayside to build 15,000-sqm Herzliya office block for NIS 90m

IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) subsidiary Bayside Land Corp. Ltd.(Gav Yam) (TASE: BYSD1) has decided to expand its office complex in Herzliya Pituah at an investment of NIS 90 million, not including the cost of the land. The premises are due to be occupied in December 2007.
Bayside will construct the 9,500-sq.m. Building 5 and 5,500-sq.m. Building 6 in its office complex. When completed, Bayside’s office complex will cover 85,000 sq.m., including 40,000 sq.m. upper space. Tenants include the Israeli branches of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE; LSE:PFZ), Paradigm Geophysical BV, Optibase Ltd. (Nasdaq: OBAS), lawyers and venture capital funds.

Hilton Hotels, Four Seasons Hotel and Kempinski Hotels are planning new hotels in Israel.

The revival of Israel’s hotel industry has rekindled developers’ interest. After a long drought that began in the mid-1990s, a number of international chains, including Hilton Hotels Corp. (NYSE: HLT; HLN), Four Seasons Hotel Inc. (NYSE:FS; TSX:FSH) and Kempinski Hotels have recently said they were planning to open more hotels in Israel.
In December 2006, the Israel Land Administration (ILA) published a tender for the construction of a 1,000-room hotel in Tiberias, after 15 years during which no hotel has been built in the town. US real estate tycoon Shaya Boymelgreen and Israeli developers are buying existing hotel properties.

The beginning of a bubble?

A resident of France was interested in purchasing a Netanya apartment overlooking the sea. The owner was asking $600,000. An assessor came to verify the property value on behalf of the Bank of Jerusalem, in order to approve a mortgage, and determined the apartment was worth only $500,000. When a bank representative informed the buyer, he was unfazed. "I know," he replied, "but a completely outfitted apartment where I don't have to alter a thing is convenient for my trips to Israel."

The banks’ aggregate profit on real estate business rose 52% to NIS 486 million in January-September.

Although the recovery in the real estate industry might not be felt on the ground, it is making a strong showing in the banks’ financial reports. The reports for the third quarter of 2006 show that the banks’ aggregate profits from the real estate sector totaled NIS 486 million in January-September, 52% more than the NIS 319 million in revenue in the corresponding period of 2005.

13 Nahardea-Beeri apartments sold for NIS 117m

There are currently 8,000 residential properties in Israel worth over $900,000.
Prices for luxury apartments in Tel Aviv continue to rise. The Hershy Friedman group, which owns the Nahardea-Beeri residential project, reports that it sold 13 apartments in the project during the fourth quarter of 2006 for an aggregate NIS 117 million. The NIS 675 million Nahardea-Beeri project has 125 apartments.

Old-new luxury homes: this year's real estate hit

Last year's real estate headlines were dominated by the luxury residential towers, which touted their uniqueness and magnificence. This year's luxury market may not have the same physical height, but will surely be just as opulent. The up-and-coming luxury properties are actually the older buildings closer to the sidewalks. In the past three years such buildings have become a high-demand real estate product that threatens to take over the high-end residential market. The building conservation trend that has brought about this situation is now seeking the potential in the older sections of various cities.

Israel's proprty boom - no slowdown

http://lushhome.wordpress.com/2006/12/28/no-slowdown-yet-for-israels-property-boom/

Coming out of their shell

Some stock market shells have become flourishing real estate companies.

Unquestionably, one of the more fascinating features on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in 2006 was the entry of new real estate companies by the back door through the acquisition of stock market shells. Some of these companies have built flourishing businesses on this foundation.
This phenomenon has some negative aspects as well, the most noteworthy of which is investors’ rush to invest in a fad, raise capital and invest it in speculative deals at considerable risk. That said, quite a few genuine real estate companies started out as stock market shells.

Ocif sells remaining 50% stake in Weizmann Center to Migdal

Ocif Investments and Development Ltd. (TASE: OCIF) has sold its 50% stake in the Weizmann Center in Tel Aviv to Migdal Insurance and Financial Holdings Ltd. (TASE: MGDL) for NIS 68 million. Migdal and Hamagen Insurance Company Ltd. bought half rights to the mall, including its underground parking garage, in April 2006 for NIS 131.3 million.
Negotiations of the sale of first half of the Weizmann Center were very difficult. One problem was that Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), adjacent to the Weizmann Center, has a permit to build a 700-space underground parking garage, which lowered the value of the mall’s own parking garage.

Tel Aviv Building C’ttee approves 30-storey Soutine high-rise

The Tel Aviv Local Planning and Building Commission has approved a 30-storey high-rise for the Soutine lot at the corner of Soutine St. and Fishman-Maimon St. The high-rise will have 78 apartments with 7,710 sq.m. of aggregate space. The building on site was previously occupied by offices of the United Kibbutz Movement.
The commission also approved the plan for the 50-room Little Tel Aviv hotel in the Tel Aviv Port. The building will have 1,640 sq.m. each of hotel and residential space in 11 floors above the ground floor.