Judea & Samaria

"Huge profit potential"

How agricultural land in Judea & Samaria became a real estate hit

As housing prices in the center of the country rise, attractive investment opportunities dwindle. After all, many investors are not able to bring home several hundred thousand shekels of equity, or are simply not interested in it - because the higher the initial investment, the lower the profit potential. For those who do not give up and continue to look for investments in relatively low equity, without compromising on high profit potential, it is worth checking out what is happening beyond the Green Line.



The bureaucracy on the journey for approving plans is minimal, the change of zoning time is half of the usual/normal time - and prices are still very attractive and affordable. Investors are discovering fast agricultural land beyond the Green Line, which is expected to become part of the township/settlement in the coming years

For example, agricultural land in Judea and Samaria, in an area designated for future construction, is currently marketed at a price of NIS 129-149,000 per 100 sq.m. area unit. NIS 500-600,000 – This will yield a profit of almost 3 times the investment.

Less bureaucracy, without an improvement levy (Impact Fee) (“Heitel Hashbacha” in Hebrew)



The corporations/funds that market the various land, and are specialized in promoting projects beyond the Green Line, explains that "usually, in order to approve plans and thaw agricultural land, the plans have to go through a local committee and a district committee, a process that takes many years. Beyond the Green Line - "There is no district committee, so the process is cut in half. Another advantage of the location is that there is no improvement levy on transactions beyond the Green Line. This means savings of 35% to 50% compared to similar transactions within the Green Line."

The promoters emphasize that these lands are privately owned by Jews, which are registered. "These are not state lands, but lands with an orderly and accessible Recorded Deed, including a block and a plot, without any lien,". As stated, these are area designated for future construction.

In accordance with the appraisal report according to Standard 22 and based on similar cases, each land unit will grant the investor the right to one housing unit in the building after the approval of the master plan in place. According to standard and similar transactions in the area, the price of an apartment is expected to be about NIS 1.5 million (apx $500,000 USD).

For investors in these lands, there are three possible profit opportunities. Those who sell after receiving the building permit are expected to receive about NIS 500,000 (apx $150,000 USD) on the land, that is, a profit close to NIS 350,000 (apx $100,000 USD). In the second route, the investor will add the construction costs, about NIS 700,000 (apx $230,000 USD), and receive a new 3-bedrooms apartment worth NIS 1.5 million, after investing only about NIS 850,000 (apx $275,000 USD).

The third investment route is intended for those who will purchase 4 or more land units, and will be able to make a combination transaction with the contractor who will build on the site. Those who want it, will be able to transfer ownership of the units to the contractor and offset the construction costs. This way they will be able to keep ONE fully built unit of 100 sq meters.



"A new city will be built here"

"In recent years, construction in Judea and Samaria has gained widespread legitimacy, with ministers, members of parliament, mayors and committee councils visiting the area and promising that a new city will be built on these lands,".

"There is high certainty that the proposed construction will take place, so for an investment of only NIS 129-149,000 (per 100 sq meters of Land) there is a huge profit potential, whether investors choose to sell the land immediately upon re zoning, keep possession and get an apartment at an extremely low price, or enter into a combination deal with the contractor."

The entrepreneur who wants to turn Ma'ale Adumim To Orlando:

"I'm better and bigger than Dubai"

He opened a huge design complex and a large indoor amusement park in Mishor Adumim the nearby Industrial Park of Ma'ale Adumim.

Real estate developer Hanoch Kess believes in going big, and in an interview, he explains why customers will travel to Mishor and Ma'ale Adumim even though the prices there are not lower than in the center, what plans do they live in?

He has more projects in the pipeline, and why he advises young people to run to buy an apartment, no matter where in Israel.

38, an ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem, the owner, and CEO of the Kess Group real estate company, who is also responsible for the largest design complex in the country, "D-City", which opened in August in Mishor Adumim, as well as "Magic-Kess", Luna- Park, the indoor amusement park that opened there very recently.

To date, Kess Marketing sold about 5,000 apartments in Israel, some of which he also built. Now he seems to be getting into projects on a much larger scale. After hours of interviewing and many background conversations with those who know him intimately, It's still difficult to decide whether Kess' projects are vision or megalomania, although projects like D-City or Magic Kess Complex You can only judge after months of operation.

Why did you decide to build the latest projects in Ma'ale Adumim? Won't it be difficult to bring people here?

"When I started talking about D-City and Magic Kess, they said, 'A man-made money, now he's going to lose it.' I say: “The real money is in the vision”. It is easier to lose in projects in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem than in Ma'ale Adumim. In the center of the country, in places where the chances of covering land prices, interest rates, bureaucracy, are smaller, this means a loss of tens of millions of shekels.

We said: “either go big or go not at all”. You can not make a mall design of 20,000 sq.m. It must be a sizeable mall and 100,000 sq meters is more appropriate.

After the company has invested a little over a billion NIS in the two projects that have already opened,

Next is also to be built hotels complex with 1,000 rooms for four-star families. Our total investments will reach NIS 2 billion in three to four years from now.

Mr. Kess continues: “What will characterize all the projects will be that the experience, in reality, exceeds expectations. The problem with many projects is (they make beautiful simulations, but in reality, the visitor is getting disappointed. What we actually see here is the opposite effect."

People Are Willing to Pay

When Kess and I wander around his amusement park in Mishor Adumim - whose name, by the way, was recently changed to "Israel Park" I'm getting dizzy from the lights and fixtures going up and down and around, Kess asks me: "Do you remember where you are in? Tell the truth, did you remember that you were in Ma'ale Adumim? When you are in an experience you forget the location. And that's all The story - the experience makes the location. "

The design complex and amusement park do create a kind of wow feeling. The architecture is ornate, grandiose, the one that has accompanied it ever since One and a half million inhabitants, 18 minutes from Jerusalem, with parking for each visitor. Today it is no longer so cheap. When we bought 100 dunams, we paid NIS 300,000 per dunam. Today, a dunam has already been sold for one million, and prices are climbing towards the one and a half million shekels! Yes 1.5M Shekels "

The indoor amusement park complex looks like a giant spaceship that has landed nowhere. It extends over 15,000 sqm + 4,000 sqm balcony and was built with an investment of about NIS 300 million. It features extreme facilities, some of which exist only in a few theme parks around the world. Everything is lit, flickering, and noisy. In addition to the facilities, there are approx. 100 arcade games and gaming halls. Each game costs between 3 and 10 shekels, paid for using an electronic bracelet. The bracelet's charging stations are scattered throughout the compound, and parents can restrict In advance the amount of the charge. The parents have in the center of the second floor, which dominates all the facilities, a work area with armchairs And the possibility of drinking tea & coffee.
 

How was the idea of ​​the D-City born?

"When I marketed apartments to the American public. They would buy an apartment and be abused during its design period running from one Design Center to another, from Bnei Brak to the port, to Herzliya, to Rishon Lezion. Customers would come to me and ask, what's going on here? Isn’t there a better way of doing it? - So I decided to build something which will give them an answer.

"The claims that the prices are high are due to the impression that visitors get that such an invested place must be expensive, but you get Here are chains that sell at same prices as in all other branches in the country. And there are private stores that give attractive prices, for example Opening now, with 3,300 sqm - a kind of stock store for brands: bedding, toys, complementary furniture, pots, HOM'S products. 50% off the prices of the same products elsewhere. We have everything, "But the expectation when traveling to a place like Mishor Adumim is different.

“We are the most beautiful and technologically advanced.

I'm better and bigger than Dubai.

I was there.”