The area with a rendering of the new development
The Housing Ministry officially announced on 11 Adar II (March 18) the results of a tender-bid for the price of housing units in a project in Bnei Brak. The framework is called Mechir LeMishtakein in which the contractors' bid is the price at which they will sell the finished apartments to consumers. The lowest price bid wins.
The project in Bnei Brak involves five large lots behind the highway near the Bnei Brak train station under construction, upon which will be built 1,180 apartments. The city will probably approve plans for standard easements at the site which will set the amount of units at 1,416.
Five construction contractors entered the bid, which was awarded to Oded Shriki from Netivot, owner of the Arzei Hanegev Company. This is one of largest construction companies in Israel which up to now operated mainly in the southern district, like Netivot and Beer Sheva. Lately, however, it has also begun building in Jaffa and Modi'in.
As explained, the entrepreneur who bids the lowest cost per square meter of construction is the one who gains the contract. Shriki offered the considerably lowest cost in all of the five lots, i.e. 9876 shekels per square meter, not counting VAT, which translates to approximately 600,800 shekel per the going market price for a sixty meter (600 sq. Ft.) starter apartment. The big gainer here is the chareidi public which suffers acutely from a housing shortage.
A more typical three room apartment (two bedrooms) of 75 sq. meters (750 sq. Ft.) plus a balcony of 12 sq. m, plus parking space and a storage basement unit will run to NIS 960,000 ($266,000). A four room (3 bedroom) apartment of 80 sq. m. plus same balcony etc. will cost NIS 1,3000,000 ($360,000), while a five room apartment of 115 sq. m. with said extras will cost NIS 1,420,000 ($394,000).
An Apartment in Beit Shemesh for NIS 700,000
Apartments in a new housing project in Beit Shemesh were being sold for a mere NIS 700,000 ($194,000). These include a porch of 12 sq. meters, a storage unit of 9 sq. m., and a pre-approved building option for another 12 sq. m.
This price is considerably lower than the going market price of NIS 1.3 million ($360,000), while the price of a Mechir LeMishtakein apartment (explained above in the project in Bnei Brak) is about NIS 850 thousand ($236,000).
But facts speak for themselves. In this past week, 122 customers received their apartments in the Har Melech project in Beit Shemesh through the long hoped for Form Four, for the price at which they signed long ago on the bottom line with the average price which they would have to pay. This buildings were built following the framework of Kvutzat Rechisha (Buying Group) in which the buyers are organized into a group which handles the construction themselves, theoretically saving the profits of the intermediaries.
The apartments were built by an Buying Group which was professionally set up by the Kidum Company under the administration of Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Berger who has built close to one thousand housing units all over the country through various group plans. He says, "Many people were convinced that the inexpensive price quoted at the registration was a mere promise without any coverage, but fortunately, we have succeeded in meeting our promised goal with the help of careful professional guidance all along."
