Netanya’s Net 600

A new neighborhood will offer sea-view apartments geared toward middle-aged couples.

By JOHN BENZAQUEN
netanya 521 (photo credit: courtesy)
netanya 521
(photo credit: courtesy)
Netanya is one of the fastest-growing cities in the central coastal belt.
This is the most densely populated area in the country, and most of the cities have practically no land reserves. Netanya is different. It has large reserves of building land to the south and to the east.
Land in the eastern part of Netanya – the part of town east of the Haifa-Tel Aviv coastal highway – is relatively inexpensive.
The southern part, with its proximity to the Mediterranean, is a more upscale area, hence prices are correspondingly higher. The most southerly neighborhood in the western part of Netanya is Ir Yamim. Practically at the water’s edge, most apartments there have sea views. To the north of Ir Yamim, a new neighborhood is taking shape.
Called Net 600, it is intended to attract middle-aged couples with middle-class backgrounds from Israel and abroad.
When completed, it will have about 15,000 residents.
“Net 600 is ideally located,” says Aharon Samipur, the Netanya agent of the Reshef Nechasim real-estate company.
“It is next to the shoreline atop a cliff that affords sea views to nearly all the apartments, even those on lower floors.
Net 600 is also special in that it has been designed for a specific type of buyer.
There is no educational infrastructure, and the commercial infrastructure is sparse – and that is no coincidence. The area is targeted toward a special type of client – middle-aged couples whose offspring have left the parental nest. These people lived in large apartments, large single-family homes or large semidetached dwellings. These homes are now too large for their needs, so they are interested in alternative accommodation in an attractive location.”
According to Samipur, most buyers come mainly from the surrounding area, namely Netanya itself, Herzliya, Ramat Hasharon and Kfar Saba. Netanya is also a favorite destination for newcomers from France and the UK. Many of these buyers are couples or individuals who want to retire in Israel. Many of them would have liked to retire in Jerusalem, but there is a price barrier because real estate is very expensive in the capital.
The same holds true for Tel Aviv.
Netanya has the advantage of being on the sea. It has the aura of a Mediterranean resort town and is very close to Tel Aviv – a 30-minute drive and less by train.
Very few stores are planned in the area.
The idea is that the residents will have their own cars, so they can go shopping at the nearby commercial center of Ramat Poleg. Furthermore, in this cyber age, it is possible to shop via the Internet, so the weekly groceries can be delivered to one’s home. Net 600 will have apartments in high-rise buildings of 20 stories and more, as well as singlefamily homes or dwellings in semidetached units. These private dwellings are expensive. They are built on small 250-square-meter plots of land; consequently, the most is made of the available land. These dwellings are spacious, but to achieve that spaciousness, they are built upwards – two and three floors with basements. As a result, most have built-in elevators. And many have sea views, as they are built near the seashore and on a cliff that is 50 meters above sea level. The view from the high-rise apartments reminds one of the view from the deck of a ship.
The Netanya Municipality is very keen to develop the southwestern part of the city, which includes Ir Yamim and Net 600. Miriam Fierberg-Ikar, the mayor of Netanya, recently told Metro, “I consider the area to be one of the most attractive in the city. It has an excellent location – the azure Mediterranean Sea to the west, the nature reserves of Iris and Poleg to the south and north, and the Winter Pond to the east. This last is an expanse of water that fills up in winter. It is an excellent location, in my opinion a location unequaled in Israel. Just imagine a whole neighborhood in the center of the densely populated areas of central Israel surrounded by nature.”
In real estate, location is everything, which means that Net 600 has its future assured. Consequently, prices may rise in the future. This is doubly true because the area is very well connected to the national highway grid through the Poleg Interchange, which means easy access to Tel Aviv and Haifa. The whole country is within easy reach of Net 600 residents.
Prices in Net 600 are high compared to some areas in Netanya, but they are less expensive than in other seaside residential areas such as Tel Aviv or Bat Yam.
Prices vary according to floor level and sea views. Apartments on higher floors with sea views command premium prices. Apartments on lower floors with less of a sea view or no view at all are much less expensive.
In contrast to the more southerly Ir Yamim and because of the expected buyers, Net 600 has relatively small threeroom apartments. In Ir Yamim, there are only four-room apartments and more.
In Net 600, an average three-room apartment can cost NIS 1.3 million, an average four-room apartment NIS 1.75m., and an average five-room apartment NIS 2.25m. A garden apartment will cost about NIS 2.5m., while an average penthouse can cost from NIS 4m. to NIS 7.5m. A single-family dwelling near the sea can cost up to NIS 6m.
Recent real estate transactions
• A three-room, 98-square-meter apartment on the fifth floor with partial sea views, a terrace and parking space was sold for NIS 1.35 million.
• A four-room, 110-sq.m. apartment on the ninth floor with magnificent sea views was recently sold for NIS 1.7m. While the location is excellent and the apartment is very spacious, it was in dire need of renovation. The apartment came with private parking.
• A five-room, 120-sq.m. apartment on the fifth floor with storage room, terrace, elevator and parking was sold for NIS 2.15m.
• A 160-sq.m. penthouse with an 80-sq.m. terrace on the seventh floor was sold for NIS 4.25m. The apartment was sold on a shell basis; the buyer will have to pay for building the interior of the apartment.