Mortgage Broker in Israel for Foreign Buyers: The Role Without a Reserved Title

An Israeli mortgage broker (yoetz mashkanta) shops a housing-loan file across banks. The title is not reserved: the 1996 Brokers Law licenses land introductions, the 1995 Investment Advice Law licenses securities advice, and the 2016 credit-services law licenses granting credit. We publish no citywide fee. On median asking a non-resident’s 50% cap is a ₪2,425,000 loan.

The title that is not reserved

mortgage consultant / mortgage broker (the person who shops a housing-loan file across banks) (יועץ משכנתאות) is the person who shops a mortgage (משכנתא) file across Israeli banks. That is a role foreign buyers already meet on mortgages for non-residents and on how Israeli mortgages work. It is not a reserved title. We fetched the four statutes that sit next to this job on he.wikisource on 22 August 2026. None of them creates a register, an exam, or a shekel tariff for “יועץ משכנתאות”. English-language listicles that treat the consultant as a licensed parallel to the agent or the appraiser are inventing a cell the official file does not contain.

The neighbouring reserved acts are specific. The Real Estate Brokers Law, 5756-1996 (Sefer HaChukim 5756, 70) defines real-estate brokerage (introducing parties to a land deal) (תיווך במקרקעין) as introducing, for consideration, two or more parties so they may contract a transaction in a right in land (s.1). Section 2 then reserves that act and the title: a person shall not engage in it, announce it, or use a designation that may create that impression, unless they hold a valid licence. Shopping a bank desk is not introducing parties to a land deal. The person on the agents index is a different profession.

Securities advice is reserved. A housing loan is not a listed asset

The Regulation of Investment Advice, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755-1995 (Sefer HaChukim 5755, 416) is the statute people reach for when they hear the word yoetz. Section 1 defines investment advice (securities and listed financial assets) (ייעוץ השקעות) as giving advice to others about the advisability of investing in, holding, buying or selling securities or financial assets. The listed financial assets are units of an Israeli mutual fund, shares or units of a foreign fund, options, futures, structured products, index products, and study funds (kranot hishtalmut). A housing mortgage is not on that list. Section 2 then reserves investment advice, portfolio management, and investment marketing to the matching Israel Securities Authority licence.

That is a consumer-protection line for securities. It is not a licence to shop Bank Leumi, Bank Hapoalim and Mizrahi-Tefahot on a Tel Aviv flat. A consultant who also sells securities, or who also grants credit, steps into those reserved acts and needs those licences. The file-shopping role, on its own, does not. We do not treat a private association membership as a statutory register. We do not invent one.

Granting credit is reserved. Advising on another bank’s loan is not

The Supervision of Financial Services (Regulated Financial Services) Law, 5776-2016 is the other near-miss. Chapter C, s.11א, defines granting credit as a business (מתן אשראי) as granting credit as a business — opening a facility, discounting cheques or bills, certain assignment-backed credit, certain purchase-or-hire finance, giving a guarantee, non-recourse asset-backed credit. Section 12 then says a person shall not engage in granting credit, or in a financial-asset service, without the matching licence. The reserved act is lending. It is not writing a comparison of three banks’ housing-loan offers for a borrower who will sign with one of those banks.

Chapter ג׳3 of the same law licenses operating a system for credit intermediation — a platform, not an individual emailing mortgage desks. The financial-cost-comparison chapter (י״א1) is repealed. The Banking (Licensing) Law, 5741-1981 s.10 lets a bank grant credit, give financial advice in its field, and intermediate monetary deals in its field, except purchase or sale of real estate. Section 21 stops a non-bank from taking deposits and granting credit together. A consultant who does not take deposits and does not lend is not doing that reserved pair.

What the 50% cap means for the file they shop

A broker does not set the loan-to-value cap. Our entry-ticket file already applies Bank of Israel Directive 329 caps of 50% for a non-resident and 75% for a resident’s single home. How those tracks mix — at least 1/3 fixed, prime up to 2/3, term cap 30 years, payment-to-income cap 50% — is already on how Israeli mortgages work. We did not re-fetch a Bank of Israel hosting-loan-procedures PDF this run, so the mix and LTV figures stay the operational facts we already publish. A licensed appraisal is still the bank’s number on a financed purchase, not the listing.

The arithmetic is ours. The citywide median asking price in July 2026 is ₪4,850,000 ($1,310,811 / €1,212,500 / £1,021,053; n = 1,037 tracked active listings). At the 50% non-resident cap, the loan is ₪2,425,000 ($655,405 / €606,250 / £510,526) — and the cash down is ₪2,425,000 ($655,405) — if the appraisal meets that price. That is the file a broker is placing. The Bank of Israel non-indexed average new-mortgage rate was 6.69% as of February 2026. It is not a quote, and it is not a broker’s fee.

What our tracked panel can say without inventing a fee

We will not publish a citywide broker fee. There is no official tariff, and the tracked listing panel has no field for it. What the panel does record is the asking price the loan is written against. Our implied median tracked apartment is 88 sqm (950 sqft) — July 2026 median asking ₪4,850,000 divided by ₪54,945 per sqm ($14,850 / €13,736 / £11,567 per sqm; n = 987). That size is a ratio of two medians, not a surveyed floor plan, and it is the same implied size the arnona page uses. It is a reasonable starting point for the flat the bank will appraise. It is not a consultant’s invoice.

What we still will not invent

Five things we will not put a number or a licence to. A reserved title: no statute we fetched creates a register for יועץ משכנתאות. A citywide shekel fee: no official tariff, no panel field. The lawyers and costs page does not invent one either. That shopping a file equals granting credit: s.12 reserves lending. A verbatim Bank of Israel procedures directive fetched this run: mix and LTV stay the facts already on the mortgage pages. A typical rate discount from using a broker: we do not have a paired sample. Ask the consultant, in writing, who pays them — you, a bank, or both — the same way you ask the committee for va’ad bayit about that building. Consumer-protection and contract law still apply to the engagement letter. They do not mint a tariff.

Frequently asked questions

Where this fits

A mortgage broker sits on the buying-process track next to the non-resident mortgage, the track mix, and the licensed appraisal, after purchase tax and beside the source-of-funds file. It is a different role from the licensed agent. The Hebrew terms are in the glossary, the cluster map is the foreign-buyer guide, and live asking figures sit on Tel Aviv property prices. Return to the buying-guide hub.