Tel Aviv Property Glossary: the Hebrew Terms Foreign Buyers Meet

An Israeli property purchase runs on Hebrew terms — Tabu, mas rechisha, mamad, heter iska — that most English guides use without defining. This glossary defines 18 of them in plain English, the way we use them across this site, with each entry linking to the full guide where the topic is treated in depth.

Terms

Tabu — טאבו

The Israeli Land Registry (Lishkat Rishum HaMekarke’in), where privately-owned real estate is recorded as full freehold title. Property registered in the Tabu carries no lease, no annual fee, and no state reversionary interest, and can be bought by any foreign national. Leasehold vs freehold →

Nesach Tabu — נסח טאבו

The official extract of a property’s Land Registry record. The buyer’s lawyer pulls and reads it as the first step of due diligence: it shows the registered owner, the land status (freehold or lease), and any mortgages, liens, or notes registered against the property. The buying process →

Minhal (Israel Land Authority, ILA) — מינהל

The Israel Land Authority (Rashut Mekarke’i Yisrael), which administers state- and Jewish-National-Fund-owned land — roughly 93% of land in Israel — as long-term leasehold rather than freehold. Foreign nationals generally cannot lease ILA land unless they would qualify under the Law of Return. Leasehold vs freehold →

Mas rechisha (purchase tax) — מס רכישה

The Israeli one-time property purchase tax paid by the buyer on a real-estate acquisition, charged on a progressive bracket schedule that differs for a resident buying a single home versus a non-resident or additional-property buyer. Purchase tax guide →

Hora’at sha’a (temporary order) — הוראת שעה

A time-limited legislative provision. In the purchase-tax context, the 8%/10% rate schedule for non-residents and additional-home buyers currently runs under a temporary order in force through 31 December 2026 — which is why buyers signing near its end should confirm the rates still apply. Purchase tax guide →

Mamad (safe room) — ממ"ד

A reinforced security room built into the apartment — thick reinforced-concrete walls, a blast-and-gas-sealed steel door and window, and independent ventilation — designed to shelter occupants during rocket fire. Since a 1992 change to Israel’s building code, new residential construction must include one, so a mamad is effectively standard in newer buildings and largely absent from older stock. Safe rooms by neighborhood →

TAMA 38 — תמ"א 38

Israel’s national outline plan for the seismic reinforcement of buildings permitted before 1980, in force from 2005. It granted added building rights in exchange for earthquake-proofing an existing structure (38/1) or demolishing and rebuilding it (38/2). It stopped accepting new permit applications nationally in October 2022 and was wound down through August 2024, with urban renewal moving to municipal plans and pinui-binui. TAMA 38 for buyers →

Pinui-binui — פינוי-בינוי

A large-scale Israeli urban-renewal track in which existing buildings on a plot or block are cleared (pinui) and redeveloped at higher density (binui). Residents relocate during construction and return to new units. It is one of the principal frameworks succeeding TAMA 38. TAMA 38 for buyers →

Heter iska — היתר עסקה

A rabbinically-approved profit-sharing (joint-venture) agreement that recharacterizes a bank loan’s interest as an investment return, allowing an Israeli mortgage to comply with the Torah prohibition on charging interest (ribbit). Standard on every Israeli mortgage, including those granted to non-residents. Mortgages for non-residents →

Dmei hivun (lease capitalization) — דמי היוון

Capitalization of an Israel Land Authority lease: the lease fees for the full 49- or 99-year term are settled upfront rather than paid annually. Most modern residential ILA leases are capitalized, so renewal is generally automatic and without a further capital fee — which is why the state treats such long leases, in practice, much like ownership. Terms have changed repeatedly, so a lawyer should confirm the status of a specific lease. Leasehold vs freehold →

Mashkanta (mortgage) — משכנתא

The Hebrew word for a mortgage. Israeli mortgages are usually split across several tracks (fixed, prime-linked, index-linked) rather than one rate, and carry the heter iska structure. Non-residents borrow from the same banks but under a lower loan-to-value ceiling. Mortgages for non-residents →

LTV (loan-to-value)

The mortgage amount as a share of the property’s value. Under Bank of Israel macroprudential rules the cap is roughly 50% for a non-resident buyer (treated like an investor), versus up to 75% for an Israeli resident buying a first home — the single biggest financing difference a foreign buyer meets. Mortgages for non-residents →

Tivuch / metavech (brokerage / agent) — תיווך

Real-estate brokerage and the licensed agent who practices it. The buyer-side commission (dmei tivuch) is customarily around 2% of the purchase price plus VAT where an agent is used. Israeli agents are individually licensed; our agents index shows each tracked agency’s public license number where verified. The agents index →

Kablan (developer/contractor) — קבלן

A building contractor or developer. Buying "from a kablan" means buying a new apartment from the developer, usually off-plan or during construction, under a different contract and payment structure than a second-hand purchase. The buying process →

Arnona (municipal tax) — ארנונה

The municipal property tax paid by the occupant (owner or tenant) to the city, billed by apartment size and zone. Rates are set per municipality — budget for it as a recurring holding cost and check the current Tel Aviv-Yafo rates directly with the municipality. The foreign-buyer guide →

Asking-vs-closed spread (our metric)

Our signature metric: (median asking ₪/sqm − median closed ₪/sqm) ÷ median closed ₪/sqm × 100, per neighborhood — how far current asking prices sit above or below recently registered sale prices. Published only where both samples reach n ≥ 20; indicative, not a paired comparison. Asking vs closed prices →

Days on market (our metric)

The days from a listing’s first publication to the date our tracker detected its removal. It is the closest observable proxy for time-to-sell — a removal can also be a relisting, a rental switch, or a withdrawal, and detection lag adds days — so we never present it as a verified sale time. Days on market →

Tracked listings (our unit of measurement)

The listings our pipeline observes and follows on the open market — the sample behind every statistic we publish. "Tracked" means what we saw in a stated month with a stated sample size (n); it never means a complete census of the market or of any agency’s portfolio. Methodology →

How to use these definitions

These are plain-language orientations, not legal definitions — the terms carry precise legal meanings that depend on your transaction, so treat this page as the map, not the territory. The load-bearing topics each have a full guide: eligibility and title in the can-foreigners guide and leasehold vs freehold, the tax schedule in the purchase-tax guide, financing in mortgages for non-residents, and our own measurement terms on the methodology page.