Pre-construction & off-plan

Buying a apartment that doesn't exist yet

Most new stock in Israel is sold before it is built. For a buyer abroad that has real advantages — you are choosing from a plan rather than competing at a viewing, and the payments are staged over the build. It also means handing money to a company for something you cannot stand in.

The protections exist and they are good. They are also written in Hebrew, in a contract drafted by the developer's lawyers. These are the four things to have understood before signing.

Sale Law securities

On a new build the developer must secure your payments — usually a bank guarantee. What it covers, when each tranche is released, and what happens to your money if the company fails before handover.

Payments linked to the index

Off-plan instalments are commonly linked to the construction cost index, so the price you sign is not always the price you pay. How the linkage works, and what it has added historically.

The delivery date, and the one after it

Contracts carry a delivery date and a grace period. What compensation is provided when it slips, how it is calculated, and how often it is actually claimed.

Spec, show apartment and snagging

What the technical specification commits the developer to as against what the show apartment implies, and the defect periods that run after you get the keys.

By area — 126 locations

Jerusalem 22

Beit Shemesh & Gush Etzion 14

Tel Aviv 14

Gush Dan 12

Sharon 9

Netanya & the coast 11

Shfela & south-central 14

South 14

Haifa & north 16