Pied-à-terre
A residential property used for partial-occupancy or secondary-residence purposes, typically in a city where the owner does not keep their primary residence. The French term — literally *"foot on the ground"* — marks the property as functional secondary housing rather than full-occupancy primary residence.
In the Israeli ultra-luxury real estate market, the pied-à-terre segment matters and concentrates in specific geographies. Tel Aviv beachfront properties and branded residences (Kempinski, Setai, Six Senses pipeline), Jerusalem heritage-quarter properties (Mamilla, David's Village, Talbiya, Rehavia), and Caesarea trophy properties all serve substantial pied-à-terre demand from diaspora UHNW buyers — typically French, US, UK, and South American Jewish families keeping an Israeli partial-occupancy residence alongside primary residences abroad.
The pied-à-terre buyer profile differs from the full-migration buyer profile on several dimensions: shorter average occupancy, lower service-staff requirements, higher security infrastructure expectations during vacant periods, and a different relationship with the Israeli tax-residency framework. For the cross-border family-office principal weighing partial-occupancy versus full migration, the pied-à-terre option preserves diaspora tax residency while providing the Israeli physical and family presence that increasingly matters in the post-2022 environment.
The branded-residence model, with embedded hospitality services covering periods of vacant occupancy, is particularly well-suited to pied-à-terre buyers — one of the drivers of branded-residence growth in Tel Aviv since 2022.
Sources: International real estate industry reporting; Tel Aviv brokerage commentary; published advisory commentary. Data current as of Q2 2026.
Read Next in The Olam: Luxury & UHNW Lifestyle · Real Estate · Branded residence · Family Office Migration to Israel · UHNW