66 individuals (UNHW), complementing the established wealth from traditional and industrial enterprises within the country. Managing the affairs, interests and assets of HNW and UHNW private clients has always been complex and subject the winds of change. In today’s world, understanding prevailing trends and challenges is essential for navigating today’s economic and geopolitical landscapes. A recent 2024 report from property agency London-headquartered Knight Frank, one of the world’s leading and oldest independent real estate consultancies, showed that worldwide UNHW wealth fell by 10% on average last year. The report blames rising interest rates, surging inflation, and weak equities markets, among many factors at play. It seems that Israel has also suffered due to these same factors and another unique factor specific to our country was the so called “Judicial Reform” which began in 2023 and was led by the ruling coalition parties. This regularly brought many thousands of protestors to the streets. At the time, this impacted the calculations of wealthy individuals when it came to investing and wealth management. Interest from Eastern Europe in Israeli real estate According to Chambers HNW, which independently reviews and ranks those professionals acting in the field, in the UK, wealth migration trends have seen an influx of foreign investors, such as buyers from the U.S. and Asia - looking to ‘snap up’ old country estates and take advantage of more favorable exchange rates. In Israel, we see a particular interest by non-Israeli residents, especially from European countries, in real estate properties in Israel, and it seems that such interest is not limited solely by HNW investors. From our perspective, we also see a rising interest in the U.S. real estate market, with investors seeing potential opportunities in this market. While the protests had slowed down the economy, the terror attack on October 7, 2024 and the military reaction has naturally slowed down the market in general. Add to this, a greater interest in the U.S. and UK real estate markets, and this has definitely been challenging. The bigger difficulty has been the rising exchange rate of the USD against the Israeli currency, which recently has slowed down. We remain optimistic, however, for the longer term, for the reasons we mention.
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