A group of US Jewish friends have bought six apartments in presale in the Luria project in Jerusalem’s Arnona Slopes neighborhood for NIS 30 million. The project is being built by a consortium of Shimon Tzafarti and Neumann Brothers.
Arnona Slopes covers 250-dunam (62.5 acres) east of the Arnona neighborhood, north of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, south of the US Embassy and west of East Talpiot.
The neighborhood has an approved plan for the construction of 1,830 housing units, commercial and office space, hotels, public institutions and community services, an archaeological park, parks and open spaces. In addition, offices and facilities of the US Embassy are planned. Construction in the neighborhood will be characterized by terraced hillside buildings, with convenient pedestrian accessibility.
Most of the land in the neighborhood was marketed through Israel Land Administration (ILA) tenders a few years ago as part of government subsidized programs.
Apartments on the free market in the neighborhood are sold at an average price of NIS 37,000 per square meter, although in a wide range of prices. The average price of a four-room apartment in the neighborhood is NIS 3.9 million and the price of a five-room apartment can reach NIS 4.6 million.
Apartments sold through government subsidized programs enjoyed discounts of almost 50%, at an average price of NIS 18,500 per square meter. Four-room apartments sold recently under the program for NIS 2.1 million, and the price of a five-room apartment reached NIS 2.4 million.
The Luria is located on an 18-dunam piece of land – one of two purchased from Kibbutz Ramat Rachel by brothers Tzachi and Chen Neumann and Shimon Tzarfati eight years ago for NIS 650 million.
The project will include 17 eight-floor buildings, including 335 apartments in a diverse mix. The project was designed by the Yehuda Feigin architectural firm, and the partners promise that its high topographic location ensures that even apartments on lower floors will have a view.
The development companies also report that so far about 45 apartments have been sold at the presale stage, 30% of which was to foreign residents.
The apartments purchased by the group of friends from the US include: two 98 square meters, four-room garden apartments with, one with a 180 square meter garden and the other with a 139 square meter garden sold for NIS 4.89 and NIS 4.78 million, respectively; two penthouse apartments of 136 square meters with 130 square meters balconies sold for NIS 5.97 million each; a 76 square meter three-room garden apartment with a 70 square meter garden sold for NIS 3.72 million.
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The buyers currently live in New York and Miami, while others already have homes in Beit Shemesh.
Tzarfati Shimon Group co-CEO Avi Tzarfati said, “The apartments were purchased by a group of friends for residential purposes and not for investment. So far, we have sold about 50% of the apartments in the first phase of the project, which includes five buildings with 105 apartments. The buyers at this stage are young families and homebuyers from Jerusalem with relatively high socioeconomic status, professionals, and foreign residents.
“The project maintains the uniqueness of Jerusalem’s low-rise, boutique construction, in contrast to the 23-floor high-rises currently being built in the city.”
These are special transactions, carried out during the presale period of the project, and by and large they represent prices of about NIS 35,000 per square meter – including adjustments for garden areas and balconies. They close to market prices, and are reasonable for a situation where the project is still far from the occupancy stage.
“These are good prices for the developer, which do not really reflect a presale,” says appraiser Kobi Bir. “The price per square meter that I calculated ranges from NIS 34,000 to NIS 36,000 per square meter, which are realistic prices for the location. In the cheapest places in Jerusalem, new apartments are sold for NIS 32,000 to NIS 33,000 per square meter.”
Arnona Slopes is an area undergoing intensive construction, and quite a few deals have been carried out there recently. These deals do not exceed the range of accepted market prices.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 3, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
