As Israel grapples with the global inflation crisis that has exacerbated the housing cost crisis that has been making it almost impossible for young families to afford to live in the center of the country, one group has a solution that would stabilize prices and make living in the center more affordable.
According to a study written by economists Michael Tabor and Ametsia Samkai, construction in Western Samaria is the most effective way to lower apartment prices in the center of the country. The study was sponsored by 'Tnuat HaRibonot' (The Sovereignty Movement), an activist group for populating Israeli-controlled areas of Judea & Samaria.
The study that will be presented next week at a real estate conference in Eilat, stands by the statement that building within the 30-kilometer radius of Tel Aviv, where apartment prices have almost doubled in the last decade, will significantly decrease the inflated market. The first area referred to in the study is the land where Ben Gurion Airport is currently situated, and the second is the area of Western Samaria, between the Israeli cities of Rosh Haayin, Elkana, Beit Aryeh, and Shoham.
Israel's housing market has been in a strange situation in recent months. Far fewer transactions have been recorded, but prices have risen dramatically https://t.co/v1cWyC6guT
— Al-Monitor (@AlMonitor) November 17, 2022
The possibility of relocating Israel’s main airport to an artificial island in the sea in order to build on the area where it stands today is an existing idea, but its cost will be high and will take at least 20 years to execute in which housing prices will continue to rise. "The West Samaria alternative provides 100 square kilometers available for construction, And this is also the size of the common area of ​​Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Givatayim, including the Yarkon Park, and all the National forests surrounding it, that currently contains 2.1 million people," the study said.
Therefore, the proposed plan includes the development of the lands and their marketing for construction in western Samaria to the extent of 25,000 housing units per year, and in total the construction of about half a million apartments within 20 years.
The researchers surveyed the traffic routes to the mentioned area and writes that the estimated cost of developing road and rail infrastructure, which is required to be paved in addition to the existing infrastructure and roads, is expected to be less than two billion shekels.
They refer in the study to the fact that construction in the proposed rectangular-shaped area extends slightly beyond the "green line," and state that the majority opinion in the country, as shown by the election results, advocates the need "to expand the central area for strategic security reasons."
The Authority is in charge of allocating the 93% of land in Israel that is state-owned, thus wielding a huge influence on housing prices.https://t.co/5O4UI3jL2H
— World Israel News (@worldisraelnews) November 17, 2022
Michael Tabor, one of the researchers, told Israeli reporters "the numerical research we did showed that construction in West Samaria is realistic from a budgetary point of view, if only because of the income from VAT. From time to time, ideas for settlement in the Negev and Galilee are said to solve the housing crisis, but it is impossible to change the human nature that wants to concentrate. That's how it is all over the world. The demand today is for housing close to Gush Dan, and the state should provide for this."
