The Most Flooded Cities

Yehud-Monosson tops the list by a wide margin. Only 63 apartments were sold there in the open market in the first half of this year, an average of about 10 units per month. With 1,670 apartments sitting unsold, the current inventory would take over 13 years to clear at that pace.

Be’er Ya’akov is next, with nearly 10 years of supply. Lod also has around 10 years of inventory, and Kiryat Gat is sitting at nearly 6.5 years, despite having roughly 3,000 unsold apartments, more than Rishon LeZion and Holon combined.

Beit Shemesh and Bat Yam each have about 5.3 years of supply. Beit Shemesh is a particularly unusual case: despite the surplus, prices have continued rising due to strong haredi community demand, making it increasingly difficult for young families to buy. In Bat Yam, the oversupply is a result of construction decisions made in the late 2010s based on demand projections that have not materialized.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are among the highest in total units, with 10,249 and 9,820 unsold apartments respectively, but they are also the fastest-moving markets. Tel Aviv is clearing about 348 apartments per month, giving it 2.4 years of inventory. Jerusalem’s sales rate has dropped to just 156 units per month, pushing its runway out to 5.5 years — a concern for the many developers active in the city.

The Most Balanced Cities

On the other end of the scale, Ashkelon stands out as the most balanced market in Israel right now. With 1,419 unsold apartments and 118 sold per month, it has just one year of inventory. Netivot has 1.2 years, Haifa 1.4 years, and Rehovot 1.7 years.

In these cities, developers are in a stronger position to hold firm on prices. In the flooded cities, downward pressure on prices is already being felt.

How Did This Happen?

The oversupply in the harder-hit cities traces back to the boom years of 2021 and 2022, when agricultural land was rezoned at scale, government housing programs pushed large numbers of subsidized and open-market units to market simultaneously, and demand projections were optimistic. When the market slowed from 2023 onward, buyers pulled back and the inventory piled up. The construction pipeline, already underway, could not be switched off.

The result is a market where location is everything. Two cities in Israel can look completely different to a buyer, a seller, or a developer depending on nothing more than which city they are in.