On October 7th, the life of real estate expert Yossi Shnaider, cousin of Shiri Bibas, changed: he left his job and fought for the return of his family members. In an interview with ynet and "Mamon", he talks about the strengths he discovered in himself following the tragedy: "If I once knew I could move a city, today I can move cities and countries." And also: why Israel is at a dramatic juncture in the housing market, and what goes on behind the scenes of luxury apartments in Tel Aviv.
Yossi Shnaider (47), cousin of the late Shiri Bibas, was one of the most prominent names in marketing luxury real estate projects in Tel Aviv for nearly two decades. On October 7th, 2023, he saw a familiar photo on Telegram - and stopped everything. A year and a half of public activism, flights, meetings with top officials around the world, and a struggle for the release of his cousin and her children kidnapped by Hamas, led him to temporarily give up the profession he loved. Now he is returning to the housing market, and in a special interview with ynet and "Mamon", he admits that what he sees there is not reassuring.
He moved from the Krayot to Tel Aviv at age 25 and managed branches of a luxury shoe chain. He got into real estate by chance. "One day a broker, who was an authority in Tel Aviv at the time, came to my store and said, 'You're coming to work for me,'" he says. "I refused a few times but was eventually convinced. Three weeks after stepping into his office, I sold a penthouse for 2.5 million shekels. After a year and a bit, I went independent."
Shnaider established a business providing outsourcing services to developers - marketing and pricing projects, acting as a real estate consultant, investor guide, and strategic advisor. He worked with companies such as Yuvalim, Boulevard, E-wave, and also marketed Tama 38 and urban renewal projects. "In most projects, I had strong connections with foreign residents, French, South Africans, and Australians. We reached very large luxury deals."
Give an example.
"I sold an entire complex on Rothschild for 50 million shekels to an Australian family who wanted to live together. They bought the whole thing as one unit and divided the property inside. In recent months, I sold a penthouse on Pinkas Street for 23 million shekels to a high-tech entrepreneur who made an exit and wanted to live in the city."
"I Discovered Strengths I Didn't Know I Had"
Shnaider, a resident of Be'er Tuvia, is married to Moran and a father of four. After October 7th, as mentioned, he became a voluntary ambassador. "In one day, I was thrown into an ocean with a stormy tsunami. I had to convince people at the highest levels in the world why we are right and they are wrong." Shnaider says he recognized his cousin from the picture on Telegram even before fully opening it. "I saw two ginger heads, and then came the video." He tried calling Shiri's mother without success. He then contacted his cousin Jimmy, who was on a flight back from the US. "I told him: Shiri was kidnapped."
Someone who knew him passed his number to a group of foreign journalists, and from there everything changed. "I became a 24/7 expert in politics, media, and diplomacy. At first, everyone wanted to hear about Shiri and the children, and then the tone shifted to 'Israel aggressor,' and I had to prove that we are right."
And how did you feel amidst all this?
"I discovered strengths in myself that I didn't know I had. Suddenly, in one day, I had to deal with international media and intelligence personnel. It wasn't easy. Ultimately, if I once knew I could move a city, today I can move cities and countries."
Fear of Deal Cancellations
In May 2024, he returned to the business. "The second-hand apartment market could drop further," he says, explaining: "One of the biggest mistakes is financing benefits - payment structures of 80/20, 10/90. They have a certain advantage for buyers, but ultimately, developer promotions spiked apartment prices - someone has to finance the 80% the developer holds. In days of zero interest rates, it worked. With today's interest rates, it doesn't. A developer rolls the financing costs into the price, a competing developer sees this and also raises prices, and a second-hand property owner reads that there is an apartment here for 2 million and prices themselves accordingly."
Apartment prices have dropped so far. Last week the trend reversed. Will they drop again?
"I think we are at a very significant point in time. A lot of people bought apartments after COVID with payment terms of 95/5 and 80/20, and now they need to bring the money. I'm not sure they have the money. Either there will be more deal cancellations, or there will be liquidation sales. On the other hand, we have crazy population growth. When the bottleneck opens, people will rush to buy."
And what prices are you seeing today in Tel Aviv?
"In Florentin and Neve Shaanan in the south of the city, we are already at 58,000-70,000 shekels per square meter. In the Shenkin and central areas, prices hover around 55,000 shekels per sqm and up. I recently sold a 56 sqm apartment with a robotic parking space in Neve Shaanan for 3.4 million shekels. When I started marketing a project there years ago, people would pass by the office, say 'we made a mistake,' and keep driving. Today we are selling apartments there at central Tel Aviv prices."
The brokerage field in Israel has a negative image. How do you deal with that?
"I'm not a broker; I'm a real estate consultant, a strategic advisor. I have quite a few clients I stay in touch with years after the deal, even if I no longer profit from them. If they call and ask for help - I'll be there; my clients are a Catholic marriage. When a potential buyer calls me, I don't tell them - 'come tomorrow at seven to see the property.' I must have a conversation beforehand, get to know them, understand what they are looking for, whether they've been to the bank. If I know their budget is 4 million shekels and the property is 5 million, I won't waste their time."
"A young couple came to me after their wedding, wanting to buy an apartment for 3.5 million shekels with a 2.2 million mortgage. I did a quick feasibility check, realized they couldn't afford it, and refused to take them on. In the evening, I received a phone call from one of their mothers who told me - 'Thank you very much, I've been trying to explain this to them for so long.'"
Mistakes Israelis Make
Shnaider addresses the mistakes many Israelis make regarding real estate. "You don't sell a property unless there is something much better. You sell to finance a better property, to take advantage of Pinui-Binui (urban renewal), to realize a real profit," he says. "Many people sell properties for emotional reasons, out of pressure, and regret it later. We weren't taught economic foresight. We are a surviving nation, of the here and now. We don't have a tradition of accumulating assets for generations, like in Europe. People receive inheritances and don't know what to do with them, put a deposit in the bank, and wait."
"I had a story of land in Neve Tzedek owned by a family who sold it for a three-room apartment in Ashdod. The apartment in Ashdod is worth about the same today. The land – tens of millions."
