Florentin becoming too expensive for many young people

“The population in Florentin is still young, mainly due to the small apartments of which there are a relatively large number in the neighborhood,” explains realtor Moshe Gabbay, who has been operating in Florentin for years. “This ensures that prices will be a little easier to pay. In addition, the neighborhood continues to develop constantly and offer attractive things to young people. The municipality’s decision to close some of the streets to pedestrians also had its effect and is keeping them here.”

“But if the trend of rising prices continues, it will keep young people away from the neighborhood,” he adds. “They will head further south, to neighborhoods like Kiryat Shalom or the Shapira neighborhood. Some are already doing this.”

The rise in prices can already be felt on the ground: Some claim that prices in the neighborhood have already reached the level of prices in the more affluent northern neighborhoods of Tel Aviv.

A 110% rise in prices

Florentine extends over 353 dunams (88.25 acres) in southern Tel Aviv, between Derech Jaffa and Eilat Streets to the north, Derech Shlomo (Salma) to the south, Aliyah Street to the east and Elifelet Street to the west, and houses about 10,000 residents. The density in the neighborhood is one of the highest in the country: 15 housing units per 1,000 square meters.

According to data from the Madlan website, since the beginning of 2025, 35 apartments in the neighborhood have been sold, new and second-hand, compared with 80 in all of 2024. This includes 25 new apartments, at an average price of about NIS 72,000 per square meter, a price level similar to much more luxurious neighborhoods in the city. Twelve second-hand deals have been completed in Florentin since the beginning of the year, at an average price of NIS 52,000 per square meter. Madlan’s data also shows that between 2014 and 2023, apartment prices in the neighborhood increased by almost 110%, although in 2024, prices in the neighborhood actually decreased slightly.

According to Madlan, 23 of the 37 apartments sold in the neighborhood since the beginning of the year (about 62%) are two-room apartments, and another ten are three-room apartments. No four-room apartments have been sold in the neighborhood since the beginning of the year.

“There is not much supply of four-room apartments in the neighborhood, so there is a fight over each one,” says Gabbay. “Only families, who are increasingly occupying more space in the neighborhood, or several partners who move in together, can afford such apartments today. If three years ago, rental deals for four-room apartments that I brokered commanded an average rent of NIS 8,500 shekels per month, today it is NIS 13,000 or 14,000 per month. Even in smaller apartments, prices have skyrocketed. A one-room apartment that was rented three years ago for NIS 3,100 per month, is now rented for NIS 5,000 per month; a two-room apartment that was rented for NIS 4,200 per month, is now rented for NIS 6,500 per month; a three-room apartment that was rented three years ago for NIS 6,500 per month, is now rented for NIS 8,500.”

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Madlan CEO Tal Kopel says, “When you look at the mix of apartments sold in Florentin, you see that there is a deliberate effort to keep the character of the neighborhood intact. There is no other neighborhood in Tel Aviv where the supply of small apartments is so broad and dominant. The fact that the apartments in the neighborhood are mostly small apartments also affects the average price per square meter in the neighborhood, because the smaller the apartment, the price per square meter tends to be higher.”

New projects: Crossed the NIS 70,000 per square meter mark

New real estate projects have been springing up throughout Florentin lately, and some apartment prices have already crossed the NIS 70,000 per square meter mark.

In the Julie project at 91 Herzl Street in Tel Aviv, owned by Yuvalim City Boy, all deals done this year reflect an average price of more than NIS 68,000 shekels per square meter. The highest is a NIS 4.27 million deal for a new 52-square-meter apartment with two rooms, on the fifth floor, purchased last April. The transaction reflects an average price of NIS 82,000 shekels per square meter.

YBOX’s Gat Rimon project is on the northern border of Florentin on Gat Rimon Street. According to the company’s 2024 annual report, nine apartments were sold in the project last year, at an average price of about NIS 77,000 per square meter.

This is an exceptional price because it is defined as a luxury project, but it also reflects the recent “jump” in prices in the area. In 2023 the average price for apartments sold in the project was about NIS 65,000 per square meter, an increase of 18.5% in one year.

YBOX is currently promoting another project in Florentin, the “Gvulot Complex” between Matalon, Gvulot and Abarbanel Streets. In this project, the company has not yet begun selling apartments, but the average price per square meter, according to which the gross profit in the project is calculated, is NIS 58,000 per square meter as of 2024.

In the Hagag Group’s Salma MOMA project, which has four buildings with 105 apartments, the price per square meter in contracts signed in 2024 was NIS 46,700 on average, while the price per square meter in contracts signed in early 2025 was already NIS 56,800 on average – an increase of about 21.5%.

TAMA 38 has ended, the new plan is being prepared: Supply is falling

The end of the TAMA 38 renewal project last summer left a vacuum in Tel Aviv-Yafo when it comes to renewal of a individual buildings. The Tel Aviv Municipality is still working on its own building renewal plan, TA/5555, the approval process of which is expected to take at least a few more months. A new plan for District 8, where Florentin is located, and which could itself clear the mist surrounding the renewal potential of the entire area, is not in sight.

However, there has been progress recently. This month, a detailed plan to update Plan 44 was approved for submission, for the commercial area in north Florentin, and at the same time, a policy document for north Florentin was approved.

Despite this, some see a certain stagnation that is leading to only a small number of new apartments being built and a limited supply of apartments.

According to Gabbay, this is one of the main reasons for the increase in prices in the neighborhood: “The supply that is being created now in projects that are being built is the supply that the neighborhood will also receive a decade from now, In my opinion. This is, in my opinion, the result – the large increase in prices in this neighborhood in recent years.”

Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality’s response: “Contrary to what is claimed, the Florentin neighborhood has been undergoing a renewal process in recent years, and there is a balance between the initiatives on the ground and the desire to preserve the local fabric and qualities of the neighborhood. Just last week, the local committee approved a plan for north Florentin, which is intended to preserve the neighborhood’s character as a mixed-use urban space, allowing for diverse office and commercial spaces and preserving the neighborhood’s unique character. In the past year alone, 28 permits were approved for implementation.”

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 3, 2025.

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