Where can you find sunglasses at this time of night?

Had to buy a last minute birthday gift tonight. We were looking for a pair of sunglasses. The prices at the mall were a bit steep (NIS 300). So I thought to myself, “where would I go at this time of night in Toronto for sunglasses?” …. no brainer – Shoppers Drug Mart. Well if you didn’t know, the Kofflers opened up a chain years ago in Israel called SuperPharm. Looks a lot like Shoppers from the outside. Inside you’ll see it chock full of “LIFE” brand products.

You can find SuperPharm, not just in Beit Shemesh, but all over Israel.

Canadian products

The local Haredi Beit Shemesh newspaper, “Chadash” reported that because of the fierce competition between contractors and developers bidding for the rights to build in the new Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel neighborhood, the price to buy on paper (for delivery three years from now) will probably be about the same as buying a resale in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph.

We’ve had a lot of requests for information about Modiin and the “Moriah” (formerly Buchman) neighborhood, especially since we are planning b’h’ to move there.

Here’s some info from wikipedia:

The cornerstone for present-day Modi’in was laid in 1993. It is a modern planned city, and the highest standards of urban planning, environmental concern and planning for future growth were taken into consideration during its design. Large greenspaces were incorporated into the city’s layout and comprise 50% of the area within the city limits. The long term projection of the ministry of housing is for the city to be home to about a quarter million residents, thus becoming one of the largest localities in Israel. However, plans approved for the city thus far are for only 120,000 residents.

The city was originally planned to provide reasonably priced housing for young secular Israeli families. However the english-speaking religious community were soon attracted by the large apartments, open green areas and modern clean facilities. Most of the “anglo” community today are concentrated in the southern “Moriah” -(Buchman) neighborhood where there are already 8 synagogues and more planned. About 25%-30% of the community are modern orthodox. There are very good relations between the religious and secular families in the town.

Location: Modiin is about 10 km east of Ben Gurion Airport, 35 km southeast of Tel Aviv and about 30 km west of Jerusalem.

Here’s a slide show to give you a first impression of Modiin and the “Moriah” neighborhood in particular…

INVENTORY LOW

Globes magazine reported that housing inventory is at a multi-year low.

There were 13,155 homes for sale in January 2005, and only 7,651 in September 2009.

Housing inventory has fallen every month this year.

SALES SLOWING

Housing demand has cooled, probably a combination of high prices,  the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) rally giving investors an alternative investment and traditional seasonal slowdown.

Since June, when 2,050 apartments were sold, there was a continuous decline in apartment sales every month of the third quarter.

September home sales were 12% less than in August, August home sales were 12% less than in July, and July’s sales were 14% less than in June.

PRICES RISING

The Central Bureau of Statistics also reported that the average apartment price rose 13.3% in the 12 months through August 2009, and by 27% since mid-2007.

Full article here