The Knesset voted on Monday to expand tax benefits granted to new citizens who purchase their first home in the Jewish state amid an expected wave of immigration due to the global rise of antisemitism.
According to the new regulations, those who move to Israel under the Law of Return will be fully exempt from purchase tax on their first home up to a value of 1.98 million shekels (about $530,000), similar to the existing benefit granted to all first-time buyers in Israel.
On first home purchases valued between 1.98 million and 6 million shekels ($1.61 million), immigrants will now pay a lower rate of 0.5%. Deals above that amount remain subject to the same tax as those of veteran citizens (8% until 20 million shekels/$5.4 million, 10% above that amount).
Until now, new immigrants paid a purchase tax of 0.5% for houses and apartments under 1.98 million shekels and 5% on real estate transactions exceeding that amount, irrespective of whether this was their first home.
The Knesset said the new benefit would be granted from the year preceding the immigrant’s move and up to seven years after the fact.
Under the updated rules, an immigrant will only pay some 10,000 shekels ($2,690) in tax on a home worth 4.1 million shekels ($1,103 million), compared to around 100,000 shekels ($26,900) for a veteran citizen, it noted.
Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer welcomed the change.
“This is good news that will help the many immigrants settle down in Israel, and encourage interest in immigration and making a decision to immigrate,” Sofer told the Knesset website. “Since the start of the war, immigration to Israel has continued, and interest has been growing.”
The ministry’s director-general, Avichai Kahane, added: “This is a huge opportunity: We see many families who want to immigrate to Israel against the background of the rise of antisemitism.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “Especially during this time, we as a country need to do everything possible to make it easier for new immigrants from around the world to return home. Today, we took another important step for the immigrants and for the State of Israel.”
Since the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, some 22,000 people have immigrated to Israel, according to figures made public this month.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, there has been an increase of more than 500% in interest in immigration from France, with nearly 6,500 people opening case files compared to just over 1,000 in the same period the previous year.