How much a sublet costs in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) publishes average rents for the big cities every quarter. On 8 September 2026 Ynet averaged the first two quarters of the year: ₪7,398 a month in Tel Aviv, up 2.8% on the same period in 2025. Jerusalem averaged ₪5,331 (up 3.2%) and Israel as a whole ₪5,069. Figures correct as of September 2026.

Tel Aviv costs more even when you compare flats of the same size: 1–2 rooms averaged ₪5,474 there, 2.5–3 rooms ₪7,085, 3.5–4 rooms ₪8,857 and 4.5 rooms and up ₪11,272. In Jerusalem it was ₪3,814 for 1–2 rooms, ₪4,864 for 2.5–3 rooms and ₪6,159 for 3.5–4 rooms, so a one- or two-room place in Tel Aviv costs more on average than a three-room flat in Jerusalem.

A word on “rooms”: Israeli listings count the living room as a room, so a 3-room apartment is two bedrooms plus a living room, and a 2-room apartment is roughly a one-bedroom. Kitchens and bathrooms aren’t counted, and a small extra room is listed as half a room, which is why you see bands like 2.5–3.

What these numbers are, and aren’t. They’re averages of rent actually paid on regular leases, and according to Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing about 90% of leases in Israel are signed for a year. They aren’t sublet prices, and they aren’t the asking prices you see in ads, but as a baseline for comparison, nothing beats them.

Sublet prices usually sit above the CBS average for the same size. You get a furnished flat with a working kitchen, you arrive with a suitcase, you don’t sign up for a year, and in some cases the bills are already included.

It isn’t a law of nature, though. Someone leaving for six months who just wants their rent covered may ask exactly what they pay themselves, or even less, so the place doesn’t sit empty. Flats like that sometimes come with a locked cupboard or a room full of the host’s things, and that’s part of the deal.

Watch the unit, too. Sites that quote a nightly rate make the number look small, but ₪300 a night is ₪9,000 for thirty nights, more than the average 2.5–3-room flat in Tel Aviv. Before comparing anything, multiply a nightly price by thirty.

On a regular residential lease the law answers this: section 25ט of the Rental and Borrowing Law puts arnona, electricity, water, gas and the regular payments to the building committee (va’ad bayit) on the tenant. In a sublet it depends on what you agree: some hosts ask for one all-in sum, others add bills by actual use. Go through the list item by item and get the answers in writing: electricity, water, gas, arnona, va’ad bayit, internet and cleaning.

Arnona is a municipal tax. In Tel Aviv-Yafo, for example, the annual charge is the flat’s area in square metres times a rate set by tax zone, type of building and use. The bill goes to whoever is registered with the city as the occupant, and if the registration hasn’t been moved to your name, it keeps going to the host. So if you’ve agreed to cover it, write down how much and how: a monthly transfer to the host, or a fixed amount already built into the rent.

Who sends the water bill depends on the city, too: in Tel Aviv it’s the Mei Avivim utility, and in Jerusalem it’s Hagihon. The simplest way to estimate what you’ll pay is to see the last electricity, water and arnona bills. And if a host won’t show them but wants a fixed extra for “bills”, ask what exactly it pays for.

Start with size. By the CBS figures, going from 1–2 rooms to 2.5–3 rooms adds about ₪1,600 a month on average in Tel Aviv and about ₪1,050 in Jerusalem. The neighbourhood matters too, so compare only with flats in the same area, and count what comes with the place: furniture, a lift, a balcony, air conditioning in every room, parking.

A mamad, the reinforced safe room built into an apartment, is far from a given in either city. It became mandatory in every new apartment only in 1992, after the Gulf War, and according to the Israel Builders Association, working from the 2025 register of buildings and dwellings, about 72% of apartments in Tel Aviv-Yafo and about 71% in Jerusalem don’t have one. In Tel Aviv, Yad2 figures for July 2026 put the asking rent for a flat with a mamad more than ₪2,500 a month above one without. If it matters to you, ask where the nearest protected space is (a mamad, a shared floor safe room called a mamak, or a building shelter) and how long it takes to get there.

Season plays a part too. Yad2 describes summer as moving season in the rental market, when leases end, families get ready for the school year and students look for a place, and in 2025 demand for rentals peaked in July. At Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University the academic year usually opens in October, so if you need a place for the semester, start looking before then. Length of stay counts as well: a host renting for one month has to find the next tenant straight away, and a six-month stay spares them that, which gives you something to talk about when you ask for a lower monthly price.

Start from the CBS average for the same city and size band (₪4,864 for 2.5–3 rooms in Jerusalem, for example), remembering that a furnished sublet usually sits above it. Then convert any nightly price to a monthly one, write down what’s included and what isn’t, and compare two or three similar flats in the same neighbourhood. A price far from all of these, up or down, needs an explanation.

A good price is worth little if the money disappears. See the flat and meet the host before a single shekel moves, and pay rent and deposit only at the key handover, against a signed receipt. Nothing is settled until the host has said yes, and anyone pressing you to pay “to hold it” before you’ve seen the place is giving you a good reason to walk away.

One last check: the landlord’s consent. Under section 22 of the Rental and Borrowing Law, a tenant may not sublet without the landlord’s consent, given in advance and in writing, and if the landlord refuses on unreasonable grounds, the law lets the tenant go ahead without it. On Home Sublet, the “Landlord approved” badge means the host has uploaded that signed consent; where there’s no badge, it’s worth asking the host whether they have it.

Under section 2(ב) of the Rental and Borrowing Law, the law’s chapter on leases also applies to a sublet, with the necessary changes, treating the main tenant as the landlord. Section 25י caps any security that costs the tenant money, such as cash or a bank guarantee: together, they may not exceed the lower of the rent for one third of the lease period or three months’ rent. On a six-month lease, for example, the cap is two months’ rent: about ₪10,950 if the rent is the CBS average for a 1–2-room flat in Tel Aviv. At the end, the landlord has to return it within 60 days of getting the flat back, or once the tenant’s debts are paid, whichever is later.

And one exception bears directly on short sublets: under section 25טו, those rules don’t apply to a residential lease of up to three months with no option to extend. On a lease like that the law sets no cap, and the amount is whatever you agree. So write down three things: how much, in what form (cash, a transfer or a security cheque) and the date it comes back.

On Home Sublet, the host sets a monthly price and a deposit in the listing, and both go straight to the host at the key handover, in cash or by a local transfer you’ve agreed. Home Sublet doesn’t move money or hold deposits, so any request to “pay through the site” is a scam. The deposit comes back the way you agreed, and if there’s a dispute you open it from the booking page. All of this is general information, not legal advice.