Ashkelon Penthouse Sells for 7.5 Million Shekels to Foreign Resident

A 6-room penthouse spanning 188 square meters with a 115-square-meter terrace on Modi'in Street in Ashkelon has been sold for 7.5 million shekels. The property is located in the "Briza" project by Afgad, situated approximately 350 meters southeast of the local marina in a second-line position to the sea.

The project includes 175 apartments across three buildings: a 23-story tower and two 10-story buildings behind it. Afgad began marketing the project in the second half of 2019. Over the past three years, transactions in the project reflect double-digit price increases, with large apartments seeing the highest growth. Due to its second-line position, prices average around 22,000 shekels per square meter, compared to up to 28,000 shekels per square meter in first-line projects.

This marks the second time the penthouse has been sold, after an identical deal signed two years ago at the same price was canceled. The initial buyer, a retiree, conditioned the purchase on selling two of her apartments to finance the deal. When she failed to sell them after more than a year, the contract was canceled, and the property returned to Afgad.

The new buyer is a foreign resident from the United States who purchased the apartment for the exact same amount of 7.5 million shekels. According to Yael Dekel, VP of Marketing at Afgad, foreign residents account for more than 20% of buyers in the project.

«This deal illustrates how proximity to the sea affects property value. An identical penthouse of the same size and finish quality in another part of the city would sell for about half the price,» Dekel noted, adding that the buyers viewed the apartment once while all negotiations were conducted remotely.