Tel Aviv breaks five-year record in new apartment sales
A five-year record in new apartment sales in Tel Aviv propelled the city to the top of the transaction table in the first half of 2026, while Jerusalem led in second-hand apartment sales. Despite the local surge, CBS data indicates a real estate market that continues to stagnate and an exceptionally high supply of new apartments.
Tel Aviv led unequivocally in the sale of new apartments in the first half of the year, while Jerusalem served as the market capital for second-hand apartments during this period. This emerges from the CBS review of residential real estate transactions carried out in the second quarter, published amid a slight decrease in transaction volume compared to the first quarter.
The central figure comes from Tel Aviv, where 1,236 new apartment transactions were recorded in the second quarter—a 5-year record, falling just short of the figure set in the final quarter of 2021, when approximately 30 more units were sold. This level of quarterly sales has not been reached by any other locality in the country since the beginning of the decade.
In total, 2,056 apartments were sold in Tel Aviv in the first half of the year, leading the sales table by a significant margin. Jerusalem follows in second place with 987 apartments (483 in the second quarter), Ofakim in third with 845 (305 in the second quarter), and Haifa in fourth with 791 new apartments (461 in the second quarter).
In light of this sales "blitz," the supply of apartments in Tel Aviv has dropped to its lowest level since the beginning of 2025, standing at 9,549 unsold new apartments. This remains a very high figure, constituting 11% of the total supply of apartments in the country.
Leaders in the second-hand market
In contrast to the new apartment market, Jerusalem led in second-hand sales during the first half of 2026 with 1,860 transactions (808 in the second quarter). Haifa followed with 1,709 sales (778 in the second quarter), Beersheba with 1,262 (609 in the second quarter), and Tel Aviv with only 1,077 (492 in the second quarter). Consequently, two-thirds of the apartments sold in Tel Aviv during the first half of the year were new. This highly unusual figure appears to stem from the high standards of buyers in the big city, who are unwilling to compromise on technical specifications from decades ago that lack features such as MAMADs (protected spaces).
However, as noted, the jump in sales in Tel Aviv does not indicate a trend change in the apartment market, which continues to stagnate. Although the CBS recorded a slight increase of about one percent per month since the beginning of the year—driven by a 2.7% average monthly increase in new apartment sales—these data must be qualified by the fact that the CBS includes apartments sold under the "Apartment at a Discount" program and does not isolate those sold on the free market.
Regarding second-hand apartments, the trend is the opposite, with an average monthly decrease of about half a percent observed in the last quarter. The CBS notes that it is still too early to point to a reversal in the trend, as previous quarters showed stability.
The supply of apartments for sale stands at 84,280 unsold new units. At the current rate of sales, it will take 26 months to clear this inventory.
The leading cities in apartment supply are Jerusalem (10,320), Tel Aviv (9,549), Bat Yam (5,149), Haifa (4,042), and Netanya (3,598).
