Cheap money turned into a trap: how Israelis' real estate investments abroad eroded

A Calcalist investigation reveals how rising interest rates and increased financing costs wiped out Israeli investments in foreign real estate, focusing on SDB. Four of the company's projects in the UK recorded purchase and realization gaps of tens of millions of pounds, and a project in Manhattan posted negative cash flow. Private investors, who are not necessarily "accredited investors," bear the risk of total loss of capital.

A Calcalist investigation reveals how the sharp rise in interest rates and increased financing costs turned the foreign real estate investment model into a trap for private Israeli investors. At the center of the investigation is SDB, one of the largest companies in Israel in this field, managing a portfolio of over one billion dollars for 1,700 investors. The investigation points to four projects in the UK where significant gaps were recorded between the purchase price and the realization price: The Spires in North London, purchased in 2021 for 28 million pounds and entered insolvency proceedings; Riverview, sold for about 9.25 million pounds; Treaty Centre, a commercial center purchased in 2022 for 46 million pounds and moved to enforcement proceedings; and Astral Towers, purchased for 11 million pounds in April 2021 and sold for 4.5 million pounds in April 2025 – a decline of about 59%. Added to this is the East 101 project in Manhattan, a 34-unit residential building purchased for 12.5 million dollars, which ran into cash flow difficulties and was put up for sale with a warning of partial or total loss of investor funds. The investigation notes that SDB's investment agreements include extensive contractual protections for the company, and the investor declares awareness of the risk of total loss of capital. The crisis is not limited to SDB: Electra Real Estate also lost 75% of its value in four months, and other companies like Rilco and Valora encountered similar difficulties.