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Is crisis bringing French Jews to Israel?

More than 5,000 people visit Israel apartment fair; 'France's Jews fear wave of anti-Semitism'

Is the economic crisis in Europe and the regime change in France responsible for foreign residents' renewed interest in investing in Israel? If the interest shown by French Jews at the Israeli apartment fair held in Paris earlier this month is anything to go by, the answer would be a resounding yes.

 

More than 5,000 people visited the fair where apartments in Israel were up for grabs. According to organizers, the fair broke records in terms of interest in Israeli apartments.

 

According to Shlomo Grofman, the Active Chairman of Faire Fund (First American Israeli Real Estate Fund), there has been a great deal of interest in purchasing apartments in Israel over the last few weeks.

 

"France's Jews fear a wave of anti-Semitism in light of the European economic crisis and so, the first step is searching for apartments in Israel," he said.

 

"In contrast to previous years, this time there were masses of visitors at the fair," said Dorit Sadan, Deputy Marketing Director at Shikun & Binui, who had a booth at the Paris fair.

 

"The majority (of visitors) were young, educated families. Most of those interested have friends who already made aliya and they expressed their interest in making aliya and settling down here. Some 70 families left their details and asked to coordinate a visit to the company's projects in Hadera and Ramat Rachel."

 

According to Sadan, the young couples expressed interest in Hadera "which is a coastal city, and they wish to live in a new and upscale neighborhood. The older couples were looking to live in Netanya, where they have friends or family, whereas the traditional families were looking to live in Jerusalem and showed interest in our Ramat Rachel project."

 

"The common link between them is that they wish to make aliya and live in better conditions than what they knew in France, or at least in the same conditions," she said.

 

Man Properties Chairman Jacky Mukmel anticipates 15% increase in Israeli real estate acquisitions by French Jews in the next three months due to the feeling of economic uncertainty.

 

A survey carried out by Man Properties five years ago revealed that during the three months after Sarkozy was elected president, French Jewry carried out NIS 400 million ($104 million) in real estate deals.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.23.12, 14:00
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