Sources inform ''Globes'' that the latest land deals in the large lot in northwest Tel Aviv have risen by up to 300% in the past two years. The area is zoned for luxury housing.
Adv. Miram Donin, who represents several large lot landowners, reports that a 500-square meter lot in the large lot was sold for $170,000, amounting to $340,000 per dunam ($1.36 million per acre). The heirs of the original landowner, who bought the lot in the 1940s, sold it to a foreign resident. In another transaction in the area, landowners sold a 1.7-dunam (0.425-acre) lot to a developer for $300,000. She said that 18 months to two years ago, prices for similar transactions were about $90,000 per dunam ($360,000 per acre).
In September 2006, a diamond merchant bought a 1.5-dunam (0.375-acre) lot from the original landowners, who bought it in the 1960s, for $135,000. In October 2006, the same buyer bought a second 2.5-dunam (0.525-acre) lot for $250,000. The shekel-dollar exchange rate was around NIS 3.40/$ at the time, compared with NIS 3.50/$ today.
The land in highest demand is on the western (seaside) edge of the large lot, where the Sde Dov airport runways are as well as the Tel Baruch parking lot are currently located. Sde Dov is due to be moved in a few years, which together with real estate development in the area, has sent land prices soaring.
The large lot and its environs is one Tel Aviv's last land reserves and the city's most expensive because of its seafront location in the northern part of the city. Donin notes that because the large lot was also exempted from the Protection of the Coastal Environment Law (5764-2004), which bans construction along a 300-meter strip from the shoreline, it is one of the few areas in Israel where it is possible to build close to the beach.
Land prices in the large lot are rising even though there has not yet been any statutory change in the land. The prices reflect the buyers' expectations of future development.
In an unrelated development, sources inform ''Globes'' that the state has signed an agreement with the large bloc administrators, which will enable the planning procedures for the area to begin. Tel Aviv city engineer Hezi Berkovich has asked four architect firms - Kaizer Lakner City Planners Ltd., Lerman Architects Ltd., Mazor First Architects Ltd., and Yaar Architects Ltd. - for joint concept planning proposals for the area. Some developers are buying several lots in order to maximize the number of housing units they can build, before a final decision on the building character of the area is decided.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 14, 2008
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