American Jewish Community Buys 2 Whole Jerusalem Towers in Massive Billion-Shekel Deal

An extraordinary real estate deal has taken place in Jerusalem, with an entire community from the United States purchasing two residential towers intended to house roughly 200 families, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.

Nir Shmol, CEO of Snir Real Estate Marketing, said the scale of the purchase is unlike anything seen before in Israel. Speaking to Channel 12, he stated: “In my opinion, this is the largest deal in the State of Israel to date. There have been no such numbers, this is a deal that exceeds at least a billion NIS.” He praised the developers involved, adding: “I congratulate the developers on this important deal. It is both about the immigration of Jews, and also about helping developers deal with the difficult situation in Israel.”

Shmol explained that the significance of the deal goes beyond its financial size. According to him, this is not a conventional purchasing group but rather an organized association made up of members of the same American community, a structure that could point to similar collective moves by other Jewish communities in the future.

While the buyers may not relocate immediately, Shmol said the transaction still sends a powerful signal. “The community itself will not necessarily come to live in Israel in the near future, perhaps their children are serving in the army or studying here,” he said. He added that the deal underscores the market’s potential even during a downturn. “But this is a deal that indicates the great potential of the market, especially in this period of depression in Israeli real estate. It gives great optimism to entrepreneurs, and I think we will see significant entrepreneurs here who have come out with projects abroad. This also connects to the wave of anti-Semitism in the world, and the index of fear of Jews, which is rising very much. Perhaps we will really see a big wave of purchases here that could change the real estate industry.”

At the same time, concerns have been raised that apartments bought as a precaution against worsening antisemitism could remain largely empty, creating so-called ghost apartments in central Jerusalem. Still, Shmol argued that such a large transaction could positively affect the rental market as well, encourage additional purchases by foreign residents, and potentially lead to updated taxation policies.