New Israeli Real Estate Data Platform Blocked by Tax Authority Restrictions
An independent Israeli platform launched to centralize fragmented real estate data faces obstacles after the Tax Authority blocked automated scraping on its core property database.
A new independent initiative aims to solve one of the major challenges in the Israeli real estate market by centralizing fragmented government data. However, the project has already hit a roadblock after the Israel Tax Authority blocked automated data scraping on its core real estate database.
The website, launched by attorney Guy Zomer under the name "Versions for the People", aggregates public data from over 1,600 databases and 75 organizations. It compiles 2,291 data tables containing roughly 152 million rows of information, offering a unified access point to fragmented planning initiatives, zoning plans, and actual property transactions published across various state portals.
The Tax Authority Blockade
Recently, the Tax Authority introduced mandatory identification requirements for visitors accessing its central real estate transaction database. While the database remains publicly accessible to individual users, it effectively blocks automated scraping and AI-driven data extraction tools utilized by Zomer's platform. The Tax Authority stated the measure was implemented to prevent operational disruptions caused by automated queries.
This specific database is the country's primary authoritative registry for reported real estate transactions. Blocking automated access prevents the new platform from dynamically updating its transaction records, though previously harvested historical data remains intact on the site.
Discrepancies in Government Portals
While an alternative official real estate portal remains fully accessible without identification requirements, analysts point out significant discrepancies between the two government repositories. The platform's developers noted that comparing random land parcels often reveals conflicting transaction counts, varying financial figures, and even mismatched locality names between the portals.
"Government ministries and public bodies publish a vast amount of information," the initiative's creators stated. "This data is public, but it is scattered across numerous locations, updated without notice, and sometimes deleted."
Despite these limitations, the platform continues to operate as an open tool for researchers and the public, emphasizing transparency while advising users to verify critical data against original primary sources.
