As more young couples than ever crowd the town, can they find a roof to put over their heads?
The housing boom is a “direct result of the pandemic,” Mrs. Blima Goldberger, a veteran realtor with Waxman Realty in Lakewood, told Mishpacha. “The market was definitely moving up before COVID, but ever since the pandemic arrived, it’s risen tremendously.”
A combination of rising prices, fewer newly married couples moving to Israel because of the pandemic, plus lower interest rates, means a housing crunch, and with it, a rental shortage — particularly of basements, particularly sought after by young couples.
To demonstrate, one just has to open a recent copy of the Masa U’Matan, a local publication considered the go-to for someone seeking a rental, and scan the pages, which in recent weeks has averaged just roughly two pages of listings. Just four years ago, any given issue would have over 17 pages of listings.
In the absence of accurate statistics, excess enrollment in Beth Medrash Govoha, the premier destination for newly married avreichim, is an indicator of the higher numbers. The yeshivah normally averages between 420 and 450 new bochurim per zeman, adding to the 750–800 single students already enrolled. But for this current zeman, which began after Succos, the yeshivah had hundreds more applications than they normally do. Even after Israeli authorities allowed foreign students to enter before the new zeman began, there was still a 25% increase over a regular intake, according to statistics provided by the yeshivah to Mishpacha.
Create a free account to keep reading.
