Feature: Israelis sublet flats, fly abroad to relieve the cost of living

By Nick Kolyohin

In the past year, the Israeli city of Tel Aviv has become the most expensive place to live in the world which made many Israelis sublet their apartments and go abroad to reduce their unprecedented expenses.

Some Israelis choose to fly for short periods of time while others take their families and move their life completely to other more affordable countries. Although Tel Aviv officially received the title, residents of other cities in Israel suffer from almost the same overpricing.

Those who go abroad for relatively short periods of time usually sub-leasing apartments that they themselves rent for a long duration, an act that helps them to save some money which is so needed to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living.

Maayan Shalhov, 27 years old, sublet his apartment this summer in

the coastal city of Tel Aviv for a period of two weeks and with that money he could afford himself to fly to Italy which is much more affordable.

Shalhov had started to look for a subtenant just a week before his flight and still didn't have trouble finding one on time, "I uploaded photos of my apartment to sublets' designated website and after an hour or two started to receive messages."

Amir Shefer, 31, from Tel Aviv, CMO at Lesublet.com a designated website for sublets, stressed that the sublet industry is not merely about sub renting apartments, but it has much deeper effects, that some may not be aware of, on the cost of living at the country.???

Shefer's website has more than 120,000 users and his Facebook group "long and short term sublet in TLV" has more than 62,000 friends, in addition, there are tens of other Facebook groups for sublets with tens of thousands of friends on average in each.

Israelis sublet their apartments mostly while they are flying abroad to less expensive countries than Israel, "they sublet because of financial pain, so they look for ways to cover their high expenses in Israel."?

Michal Cohen, founder and CEO of Dirot Mepe Leozen Israel, told Xinhua that her organization unites, mainly via Facebook groups, a community of about one and a half million people looking for housing solutions such as sublets.

Regarding sublets, we see a growing trend of people subleasing their apartments as a way not to lose money, finance abroad trips, and even to earn from it in some cases, she said and added.

"The problem we are facing in recent years is that everything is so expensive and the prices continue to go up which makes many good people consider if to stay or move from Israel to another place because of the cost of living."

Because of the unprecedented cost of living, some Israelis find themselves saving money when they go abroad either for work or vacation, the only thing they need to consider is how not to lose money on rent, and subletting is a way to make their trip profitable.

Landlords at times not even aware that their tenants are sub-renting their apartments while other owners are aware of the situation and giving permission on certain conditions usually.

Some tenants are willing to take their chances and sublease flats without permission though it could lead in some cases to immediate demand of landlords to cancel lease agreements. Still, it is a risk that some tenants are choosing to take.

Shlomit Ventura, 30 years old, said that it was really easy for her to find sublets in Tel Aviv when she needed them. "It is a great solution." Like Ventura, there is a constantly growing number of people who are subletting apartments in Israel, mostly in Tel Aviv the most demanded city.

People who rent sublets have a variety of reasons, Shefer pointed out some of them, "renovations or some issues with their apartments, checking out the big city, exchange students, remote workers, digital nomads, and much more reasons, especially in the post COVID world."

Many Israelis on the one hand don’t have their own apartments, especially in Tel Aviv, and on the other hand, can’t afford to pay for rent while flying abroad, so subletting becoming their solution.

For that reason, it became very common to advertise on social media especially on Facebook posts with offers to sublease apartments while long-term tenants are planning to fly abroad.

Housing and rental prices in Israel have risen astronomically. Many families and young singles have found themselves unable to rent apartments even with average and above salaries, noted Cohen.

Part of Israelis has become so desperate regarding the unbearable cost of living that they chose to get rid of their apartments in Israel and immigrate anywhere they could be accepted.

Usually, Israelis seeking for relocation opportunities at their jobs. In the high-tech sector, it is very common due to the multinational position of companies with offices around the world.

Other Israelis take advantage of their Jewish roots in different countries worldwide that have programs for giving away additional passports to the citizens of Israel.

In recent years a significant amount of Israelis get Portuguese passports, and moved there or to other EU countries, simply by providing evidence that they were living in Portugal hundreds of years ago during the inquisition period, sometimes just certain surnames could be enough as proof.

With those second passports, usually, from European countries, Israelis move to western countries and post on social media how much cheaper and easier life is abroad which makes more Israelis try their luck abroad.

尼克?柯留辛

Ник Колехин

Никита Сергеевич Кулюхин

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