There is no best place to live in Israel. There is only the place that fits how you will actually use the home.
A family that gathers for Pesach and Sukkot needs something different from a couple relocating for work with two children entering school in September, and both need something different from a buyer who wants the property earning rental income for the ten months a year they are not in it.
This guide covers the five areas where most of our international and diaspora clients buy, what genuinely distinguishes them, and how to work out which one is yours. If you would rather start from the inventory than the geography, you can browse current listings directly.
Start here: which area fits you
If this is you Look at A holiday home used a few weeks a year, with the family gathering for the chagim Caesarea or Netanya Relocating for work, school-age children, want a soft landing Herzliya Pituach Want the property to earn when you are not in it Tel Aviv Privacy above everything: large plot, quiet street, no passing traffic Caesarea Walkable urban life, no car, restaurants and culture at street level Tel Aviv Religious life and community are the reason you are buying Jerusalem French is your first language and you want that community around you Netanya Buying for children who may make Aliyah later Jerusalem or Tel Aviv Most people recognise themselves in more than one row. That is normal, and it is usually the point where a conversation is more useful than a guide.
Caesarea
Who it suits: buyers who want space, privacy and the sea, and who are not looking for city life.
Caesarea is unlike anywhere else in Israel. It is low density, built around villas rather than apartment towers, and organised into quiet residential clusters rather than streets with through traffic. There is no downtown to speak of, which is exactly why people choose it.
The English-speaking and international community here is long established and unusually concentrated. Israel’s only full-size golf course sits at the centre of the town, and much of the residential character is shaped around it. The Roman ruins, the harbour and the beaches are genuinely part of daily life rather than a day trip.
What buyers actually purchase: private villas, most with pools, on generous plots. Apartments exist but are not what draws people here.
Worth knowing: Caesarea works well for a home used part of the year, because it is quiet by design rather than seasonal by accident. It is a forty minute drive to Tel Aviv and about the same to Haifa.
Explore Caesarea neighbourhoods, the community and services, or read our Caesarea Buyer’s Guide. Current inventory sits on the Caesarea city page.
Tel Aviv
Who it suits: buyers who want the property working, whether that means their own urban life or rental income between visits.
Tel Aviv is dense, secular by default, and the only place in the country where you can live entirely without a car. It is also the centre of the tech economy, which means consistent tenant demand at the top of the market and a property that is rarely idle unless you want it to be.
The neighbourhoods differ more than outsiders expect. Neve Tzedek is low-rise, historic and quiet. The beachfront and the Old North are residential and established. City Center and the Rothschild axis are urban and busy. Ramat Aviv is greener, family-oriented and close to the university.
What buyers actually purchase: apartments and penthouses. Land is finite here and buildings go up rather than out.
Worth knowing: the difference between two Tel Aviv addresses fifteen minutes apart is larger than the difference between two cities elsewhere. Choosing the neighbourhood matters more than choosing the city.
Read our Tel Aviv neighbourhood guide for international buyers for the detail, look closer at Neve Tzedek, or see current listings on the Tel Aviv city page. If a penthouse is what you are after, browse penthouses.
Herzliya and Herzliya Pituach
Who it suits: families relocating with children, who want international schooling and a shorter adjustment.
Herzliya Pituach is the quiet, low-density neighbour to the north of Tel Aviv, with sea access, a marina and a long-standing international population. It has historically been where diplomats, executives and relocating families land, and the infrastructure reflects that: international schools, English-speaking services, and a community used to newcomers arriving mid-year.
It offers something Tel Aviv cannot, which is space and calm within a short drive of the city, and something Caesarea cannot, which is proximity to the commercial centre.
What buyers actually purchase: villas and low-rise residences in Pituach, apartments and sea-view buildings in Herzliya proper.
Worth knowing: if a specific school is driving the move, identify the school first and the street second. Practical catchments here are narrow.
See current inventory on the Herzliya city page.
Netanya
Who it suits: buyers who want the coast without Tel Aviv pricing, and francophone families in particular.
Netanya has the largest French-speaking community in Israel outside the major cities, alongside a substantial Anglo population. For a French family, that is not a detail. It means the community, the schools, the synagogues and the professional services are already there.
The city runs along a clifftop above a long stretch of beach. Ir Yamim to the south is newer, planned and family-oriented. The clifftop and the older centre carry more of the city’s original character.
What buyers actually purchase: sea-view apartments, with villas concentrated in the newer southern neighbourhoods.
Worth knowing: Netanya is genuinely a year-round city rather than a resort, which changes what a home here feels like out of season.
See current inventory on the Netanya city page.
Jerusalem
Who it suits: buyers for whom the reason to own in Israel is religious, historical or generational.
Jerusalem is the one city on this list where the decision is rarely primarily financial. People buy here because of what the city is, and the practical questions follow from that rather than leading it.
The established English-speaking neighbourhoods are Rehavia, the German Colony, Katamon and Talbiya. They are walkable, stone-built, and organised around community life in a way that matters enormously if you keep Shabbat and matters less if you do not. Proximity to a synagogue, whether an address falls within an eruv, and whether a building runs a Shabbat lift are ordinary purchase criteria here, not unusual requests.
What buyers actually purchase: apartments in the established neighbourhoods, with a small number of houses and garden apartments.
Worth knowing: Jerusalem is quieter commercially than Tel Aviv and busier culturally than Caesarea. The city empties and fills with the holiday calendar more visibly than anywhere else.
See current inventory on the Jerusalem city page.
Beyond the five
Four smaller areas come up regularly with our clients and are worth knowing about. Savyon and Kfar Shmaryahu are Israel’s most private and established estate communities, with large plots, mature gardens and very little turnover. Hadera offers coastal property adjacent to Caesarea at a different entry point. Yokneam sits inland near the Carmel with a growing technology base. You can see all Davidson locations on the cities page.
How these places actually differ
Most guides compare cities on amenities, which is not where the real differences are. Four things matter more:
- Density and stock. Caesarea, Savyon and Kfar Shmaryahu are villa markets. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Netanya are apartment markets. Herzliya is both. This shapes everything else, including how much the property costs to maintain and how much it appreciates.
- Seasonality. Caesarea and Netanya feel materially different in August and February. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem do not.
- Community. Anglo, French and observant communities are concentrated, not spread evenly. Buying near your community is a legitimate criterion, not a soft one.
- How the home will be used. A property lived in year-round, a property used six weeks a year, and a property let between visits are three different purchases. They point to different cities.
What it costs
Israel is expensive, and the top of the market in Tel Aviv, Herzliya Pituach and Caesarea is expensive by international standards, not just Israeli ones. Broadly, Tel Aviv and Herzliya Pituach sit highest per square metre, Caesarea trades space against location, Jerusalem varies most by neighbourhood, and Netanya is the most accessible of the five.
The number that matters is not the asking price. Purchase tax for a foreign buyer differs from the rate an Israeli resident pays, and legal fees, agency fees, appraisal and registration sit on top of it.
Work through the full cost breakdown, read our guide to property tax for foreign buyers, or run your own numbers with the tax calculator.
Before you buy
If you are earlier in the process than choosing a city, three things are worth reading first: our step-by-step legal guide to buying property in Israel, our guide to daily life in Israel for international buyers and olim, and our current view on whether now is a good time to buy.
If the property will stand empty for part of the year, it is also worth understanding how property management works before you buy rather than after.
Talk to us before you decide
Davidson Real Estate is a family-led boutique firm working almost entirely with international and diaspora buyers. Most of the people we work with arrive certain about a city and change their mind once they understand how the five actually differ. That conversation costs nothing and is worth having early.
