Israel Tax Authority Restricts Access to Real Estate Database, Citing Security
The Israel Tax Authority has restricted access to its real estate database, requiring personal identification and financial details, sparking criticism from researchers and industry experts.
The Israel Tax Authority has introduced stringent barriers for anyone seeking reliable and official information on real estate transaction prices reported on its website. Starting this week, users are required to generate a user code and enter a password, conditional upon providing credit card details, a parent's ID number, the number of labor grant claims filed, and Form 106 data.
The official justification is that the website is a target for numerous hacking attempts. In practice, however, many of these "breaches" are conducted for research purposes to formulate insights about the Israeli housing market—the very reason the database was opened to the public in the first place.
150 Transactions at a Time
The Tax Authority's real estate information website is the most critical portal for market data, as it includes the majority of transactions reported by law. Other private price-publishing websites rely entirely on this database. Until 2010, the data was not publicly accessible. A petition filed by economists Dr. Efrat Tolkowsky and Prof. Danny Ben-Shahar in the Jerusalem District Court compelled the Tax Authority to open the database under the Freedom of Information Act.
Even after the opening, the antiquated system restricted searches to 150 transactions per query and suffered from frequent malfunctions, prompting commercial platforms to make the data more user-friendly. The transaction limit stemmed from a 2003 regulation signed by then-Finance Minister Silvan Shalom following a High Court petition by the Appraisers Association.
While the target audience was once primarily appraisers and casual observers, recent years have seen the data utilized for academic research, entrepreneurial market analysis, and public decision-making.
Impact on Public Discourse and Research
The Tax Authority has grown uncomfortable with the rising volume of site visits and attempts to bypass transaction limits. Five years ago, it temporarily halted the system, citing security concerns. Today, officials are increasingly worried about programmers and AI models providing full, unhindered access to transactions.
Attorney Rotem Zilber, a valuation expert and founder of the AI platform BYNDbiz, noted that other sites can no longer easily acquire data through automated searches. Zilber argues that if the Tax Authority fully released the data, he would not have needed to build his platform. Dr. Efrat Tolkowsky of the Reichman University criticized the unilateral change, warning that it harms public discourse and impedes real estate research.
In response, the Tax Authority stated: "The Tax Authority has not blocked access to real estate transaction data, but only permits human access following personal identification. We are committed to ensuring public access while protecting our systems from AI attacks that could impair system integrity and service availability."
Unreliable Data Concerns
Past reports by State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman have highlighted data quality issues, noting that over 900,000 apartments—about half of those registered in the Land Registry—are missing from the Tax Authority's database, alongside widespread errors in building years, floor counts, and apartment sizes. These flaws affect housing price comparisons, fair taxation, and citizen rights.
