Stage A: getting going
Neve Shamir began its journey as a new neighborhood near the main entrance to Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph. The neighborhood was planned as an urban neighborhood with buildings of 5 to 9 floors. During the construction phase, approximately 2,500 apartments were sold, half of them on the free market, and half of them were sold as part of the Mishtaken program. This government program allows families to buy their first apartment for a reduced price. In 2019, the marketing of the apartments began within the framework of the free market. At this point, apartments were sold at lower prices than the prices in the nearby neighborhoods. 3-room apartments were sold for about 1,200,000, 4-room apartments for about 1,500,000 NIS and 5-room apartments for 1,800,000. As the construction progressed, prices rose, and the neighborhood began to be populated.
A wide variety of families came to the neighborhood, many synagogues of all styles were established, educational institutions were founded, and the neighborhood became a magnet for many young couples.
Stage B: The high end
The great success of the neighborhood led to a tender for additional lots. These lots are located near the country club that is being built and the existing Yarmut park. This time the apartments were all designated for sale on the free market. In this tender, 8 different complexes were offered for sale, comprising 611 apartments. The success of the neighborhood and the fact that all the apartments were destined for the free market caused the contractors to offer very high amounts for the lots. The total payments of the contractors for these lots reached NIS 435 million.
It was already evident from the high prices that the contractors were planning more prestigious residential complexes aiming to sell the apartments at prices higher than customary in the neighborhood. Among the contractors who won this tender can are Wolfson Group, which built extensively Ramat Beit Shemesh, the group Rinitiated a zoning change on its designated lot and designed three 15-story luxury towers, including a swimming pool, gyms, tenants' clubs and a covered parking lot. Other contractors who won lots, such as Neve Amim, Nativ Pituach, and Soferin, also designed luxury residential complexes with high technical specifications, with luxurious lobby rooms, parking lots with preparation for electric charging, and upgraded lobby rooms.
Each project is priced differently, but in general, it can be said that apartment prices in these projects start at 2,300,000 for a 3-room apartment, 4-room apartments start at 2,700,00,0, and 5 rooms at 3,500,000 NIS.
It is worth noting that these prices are higher than the prices of second-hand transactions in the neighborhood. What are the reasons for this? First of all, these are apartments with higher specifications as indicated and the projects are marketed in Israel and abroad to more affluent populations who are looking for a different standard, but beyond that, some contractors offer favorable payment terms, so that a buyer can only pay 20% of the money now and the balance must be completed only in 3 years. In today's interest rate climate, people tend to prefer an apartment that will be delivered to them at a later stage than an apartment intended for immediate occupancy. This point is particularly significant for customers from outside Israel who are interested in purchasing a property in Israel but do not yet wish to live in the property.
Stage C: Thousands of new families
The prestigious projects are only the intermediate stage in Neve Shamir. Anyone walking around the neighborhood must have noticed the extensive development works in front of Yarmat Park, and from there up Eliyahu Hanavi Street in front of Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel-2. This is another phase of the neighborhood that has been marketed. At this stage, contractors have purchased lots for the construction of about 3,500 apartments in total, the prices that contractors paid here were much more modest for a very simple reason - in these tenders, 80% of the apartments in each project are intended for sale within the Mishtaken program. (the name of the program has changed since the first stage but the concept is similar).
The prices of apartments in the Mishtaken program will be significantly lower than prices in the neighborhood today. A 3-room apartment will cost about one million NIS, a 4-room apartment will cost about 1,400,000, and a 5-room apartment around 1,700,000 NIS. In addition to the complexes that have already been marketed, additional complexes are supposed to be marketed in the future, just in the last few days a tender was published for 1,000 additional apartments as part of the same program.
How will the new projects affect prices in the neighborhood? On the one hand, the Mishtaken projects are cheaper than the current free market, and the inventory of apartments for sale will increase. On the other hand, these apartments will attract thousands of new families to the neighborhood. The construction continues in the direction of Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel, and almost up to Daled, which creates an urban confluence of tens of thousands of new apartments, commercial centers, and educational institutions. The success of these projects will lead to the prosperity and consolidation of Neve Shamir, along with the entire area of Ramat Beit Shemesh.
We have the great privilege of living in times when we can see in our own eyes the construction of new neighborhoods in Eretz Yisrael. We hope to see many more families finding their homes in Neve-Shamir in the next few years.
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