Construction, Estonia, Real Estate

Vahter said that in Tallinn, all construction workers who wish to work and have at least basic skills are employed.

On the other hand, that the delivery times of some building materials extend to several months from the purchase is causing delays in construction.

"First, there's a shortage of workers also in the manufacturing sector. Second, even though our own plants would be able to produce enough to meet Estonian demand, they prefer to export to the Nordic countries, which is considerably more profitable," Vahter said.

Vahter said that in the evenings scores of trucks can be seen lined up at ports carrying panels and other elements used in construction, waiting to board a ferry to Finland or Sweden.

"It's a boom not so much in Estonia as in the Nordic countries, where demand is particularly high," he added.

"Nothing will get better in the coming few years. The large scale national projects such as Rail Baltic and Tallinn's Linnahall will aggravate the deficit further. Probably this will send construction prices soaring," Vahter said.

According to Vahter, many of the Estonian construction workers who went to work in Finland during the crisis are living there with family now.

"We have now become a country ourselves that should start importing construction workers and other skilled workers from Ukraine in the thousands," Vahter said.