46 “We have not seen a particular slowdown in activity from Israelis looking to buy real estate in the U.K. this year,” says David Prais, leader of the Real Estate department at Asserson. The Israel economy is facing a dual challenge of soaring interest rates and the uncertainty presented by the proposed judicial reforms which is prompting many Israelis who may otherwise invest in Israel, to look elsewhere. The U.K. has always been and continues to be an appealing market to Israeli investors given its proximity to Israel, its transparency and its stability. “As UK property owners begin to suffer from rising borrowing costs we are starting to see heavily discounted investments – downturns offer opportunities which Israeli investors are looking to take advantage of. However investors do need to invest smartly – not necessarily focusing on London but considering other large population centers such as the West Midlands (Birmingham), Northwest (Manchester, Liverpool).” The opportunities presented by the 2020 Abraham Accords offers another route for Israelis abroad. “Increasing relations with the Middle East is a factor,” points out Alexander Gold, London partner at Charles Russell Speechlys. “With our offices based in the UAE and Bahrain we are seeing a number of Israelis looking at these rapidly developing markets that represent huge opportunity for investment.” “Israelis are always looking for safe investment opportunities,” says Nili Goldman, real estate partner at Canadian law firm, Aird & Berlis, and Canada holds huge appeal for Israeli investors. She adds: “Canada is the fastest growing country in the G7 by population and provides great benefits to investors through its strong economy, global market access, highly skilled and educated workforce, political stability, safe banking system and low corruption. According to Statistics Canada, foreign investment in the Canadian real estate market in 2022 went up by 5.56% from the previous year, despite the rising interest rates. This is in part due to the fact that large cities across the nation provide lucrative investment opportunities yet are still more affordable than some of their counterparts in other countries. Canada also has wellestablished laws and regulations governing real estate transactions, making the investments much more risk-averse.“ “Israeli investors are strictly rational and analytic on the one side and more risk accepting than others on the other side,” added Daniel Ajzensztejn, a partner in the Hamburg office of Taylor Wessing, and part of the firm’s Israel Group. He went on: “From our perspective this means that the understanding
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