‘Import of foreign workers will help reduce home prices’

Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin made a crucial decision to bring another 15,000 foreign workers into the construction industry and increase the quota of foreign workers in the industry by 90%, a top official said.

“This decision by the housing minister will make it possible to complete the construction of 40,000 housing units under construction within six months and to freeze the housing prices that have been rising in the past year,” said Eldad Nitzan, chairman of the Foreign Workers’ Manpower Corporations in the Construction Industry at the Chamber of Commerce.

The shortage of foreign workers in “wet jobs” (which include formwork, ironwork, floors and plastering) in the construction industry has been a major factor in the rise in housing prices, Nitzan said. There has also been a major delay in the delivery of apartments, and there is also the unlikelihood of meeting the target of starting to build 80,000 housing units in 2022, he said.

“Today, about 16,000 foreign workers are employed in the construction industry, and if about 50,000 foreign workers are employed in the industry, a fall in apartment prices is expected in 2022 by about 3% in the Tel Aviv and Gush Dan areas and about 6% in the periphery area.”