Tel Aviv Property Index · Affordability

How many years of income a flat costs

Price-to-income is the only housing statistic that means the same thing in every country, which makes it the one number an oleh arriving from London, New York or Toronto can actually use. The national average apartment costs about fourteen years of an average Israeli salary. In Tel Aviv it is closer to twenty-eight.

27.5 yrsof average salary, Tel Aviv–Yafo
14.0 yrsnational average
7.4 yrsBe'er Sheva, cheapest of the majors
₪2.33mnational average price, Q1 2026

Years, not multiples

This is the average apartment price in each city divided by an average annual gross wage of ₪166,800. It assumes every shekel earned goes into the flat, which nobody does, so read it as a comparison between places rather than as a savings plan.

The spread is the point. The same average flat costs 3.7 times as much in Tel Aviv as in Be’er Sheva, and Tel Aviv sits at roughly double the national figure. A household priced out of one city is not priced out of the country.

Figure 1 — years of average salary per average apartment, Q1 2026

Years of an average salary to buy an average flat Average apartment price, Q1 2026, against an average gross wage of ₪13,900 a month Tel Aviv–Yafo ₪4,590,000 27.5 yrs Herzliya ₪3,850,000 23.1 yrs Jerusalem ₪3,100,000 18.6 yrs National average ₪2,330,000 14.0 yrs Haifa ₪1,800,000 10.8 yrs Ashkelon ₪1,640,000 9.8 yrs Be'er Sheva ₪1,240,000 7.4 yrs Every year on this chart is a year of an entire salary, spent on nothing else. The same average flat costs 3.7 times as much in Tel Aviv as in Be'er Sheva.

A single-income household should read a considerably worse number. Household income counting all earners runs well above one average wage.

Two true numbers pointing opposite ways

Average prices in several large cities rose sharply over the year to Q1 2026 — Kfar Saba 11.3%, Tel Aviv 10.3%, Netanya 8.2%, Haifa 6.9%. Over the same period the national quality-adjusted price index fell 1.5%. Both are correct.

An average is whatever happened to sell. The index tries to hold quality constant. When the mix of what sells shifts towards larger, newer or better-located flats, the average rises while like-for-like prices do not. That gap is exactly why a repeat-sales index — the same apartment compared with itself — is worth building.

Figure 2 — average price change by city against the national index

Average prices rose. The index fell. Annual change to Q1 2026: average price per city against the quality-adjusted national index Kfar Saba +11.3% Tel Aviv–Yafo +10.3% Netanya +8.2% Haifa +6.9% National price index quality adjusted −1.5% Both numbers are correct. They are measuring different things. This gap is the entire argument for a repeat-sales index.

For anyone arriving

Reading this from abroad

  • Compare like with like. Use gross earnings in both places, not take-home in one and gross in the other.
  • Israeli mortgages are shorter and stricter. Loan-to-value caps and term limits mean the same ratio supports a smaller loan than in the UK or the US.
  • Purchase tax is on top. For a buyer who owns property anywhere in the world, the ladder starts at 8%.
  • Use the index, not the average. If someone quotes you a city average that rose 10% in a falling market, they are quoting a mix, not a price.
  • The ratio is a floor, not a budget. It excludes tax, fees, furnishing and the fact that people also eat.

Method

Average apartment prices by city come from the CBS quarterly review for Q1 2026, which covers Israel’s eighteen largest cities. The national average was ₪2.33m, down 1.6% on Q4 2025.

Earnings are the CBS average gross monthly wage of about ₪13,900 for 2025, annualised, and the same figure is applied to every city. Applying one national wage everywhere understates the spread, because earnings are higher in the expensive cities. City-level wage data is published on a different cycle, and mixing vintages would produce a worse number than a stated assumption.

CBS quarterly average apartment prices by locality, Q1 2026; CBS average monthly wage, 2025; CBS apartment price index. Tel Aviv Property Index. Figures are recomputed on each data release; the date above each chart is the vintage shown. Provisional Tax Authority reporting is revised for several months after a quarter closes, so the two most recent periods in any series will move. This page is market information, not advice on any particular property or transaction.