Radim Passer has warned that a lack of labor is driving construction prices up to unsustainable levels. He told aktualne.cz that while the price of building office buildings barely changed from 1996 to 2016, costs have jumped nearly 50 percent in the past two years, while the price of residential projects has gone up nearly 70 percent. The founder of Passerinvest warns that the trend can’t go on without doing damage to the sector and that allowing immigration from Ukraine would help the situation. “Construction is heading towards the gradual suicide of the entire sector,” said Passer. “It’s extremely dangerous. The quality of work is falling not just because of corruption but by the lack of labor. This can’t be solved by businessmen, though, only by the government.” He complained that while Poland had issued 1.5 million work visas, Czechs had managed just 100,000.
