Looking for an apartment these days can be exhausting and a real pain. There are not enough available apartments in Jerusalem; especially when you depend on a limited budget.
New apartment houses are being built all the time but only for people with money. Luxury for American or French Jewish tourists. Their dream seems to be to own an apartment in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. They buy anything for any price and usually come here only once or twice a year. Throughout the year their apartment is empty, as they don't rent out anything. This kind of behaviour drives Israelis mad, as they cannot compete with the jumping real estate prices. Foreigners have more money and pay in cash whereas young Israeli couples don't have a chance anymore. These rich tourists don't even see what damage they cause.
Rents go up all the time but, nevertheless, Jerusalem is still cheaper than Tel Aviv. Those who have been looking for an affordable apartment in Tel Aviv used to move to southern Tel Aviv. The area is not the best area with its high crime rate and especially the poor around. The complete opposite to northern Tel Aviv with its bungalows and the rich around.
The rent for a three room apartment in southern Tel Aviv is 3000 Shekels (approx. 900 Dollars). It is very sad if people consider that as cheap. The price is a cheat.
Now the same is happening to haredi shops. Haredi customers don't go shopping at Israeli shopping malls but prefer doing so in their own modest neighbourhoods. In Jerusalem, Haredim like to shop in Malchei Israel Street in Ge'ulah and in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Akiva Street is very popular.
Most people think that living in a haredi neighbourhood must be so cheap, as the inhabitants don't have too much money. But those people are mistaken. The houses in Mea Shearim might look like a dump but rents are incredible high and I have no clue how the Chassidim can afford living there.
The rent for a haredi store is much higher these days than renting a business in ordinary Israeli malls in the Gush Dan (Tel Aviv) area. In Bnei Brak, the rent for one square meter in a store is 80 – 100 Dollar. In the secular Tel Aviv Dizengoff Center, the rent for one square meter in a shop is only 70 Dollar. The same in the secular Tel Aviv shopping mall Ibn Gavirol where shop owners only pay up to 50 Dollar rent per square meter.
The latest bad news is that very soon, even southern Tel Aviv is undergoing severe changes. The plan is to build 20 % of the new office towers there and the negative result is going to be that new apartments in the area will be unaffordable for those with a tight budget. So, where are the people in Tel Aviv supposed to live in case they don't have lots of money ?
City of Towers - Tel Aviv
View at the beach
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