Anat Georgi

New homeowners in the Negev and the Galilee will be eligible for Housing and Construction Ministry grants of NIS 25,000- NIS 30,000, according to a decision of senior government members taken yesterday.

The cities with the highest proportions of residents who are interested in continuing to live there are actually in the periphery: Carmiel, Eilat and Be'er Sheva.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon seemed determined and decisive during his tour of the Negev and the Ashkelon region this week.

A month before New York's fabled Plaza Hotel is scheduled to close for renovations and pink slips are to be issued, angry hotel employees are ratcheting up their struggle against the hotel's new owner, Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva.

In an interview with TheMarker, the general manager of Ashdar points out that the decrease in purchase of previously owned apartments since 2000 is only 9 percent - down from 96,000 transactions in that year to 88,000 in 2004.

A month before New York's fabled Plaza Hotel is scheduled to close for renovations and pink slips are to be issued, angry hotel employees are ratcheting up their struggle against the hotel's new owner, Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva.

Apparently construction and real estate is still a fiefdom for men, according to the Contractors Association. The message was clear from two incidents that occured during the annual real estate bash, which the association threw last week in the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Apparently construction and real estate is still a fiefdom for men, according to the Contractors Association. The message was clear from two incidents that occured during the annual real estate bash, which the association threw last week in the Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Quite often arguments erupt over the price of a property, when one party feels that a property can be sold for more than is being offered, she says.

This is the third time Shikun Ovdim has advised buyers of a delay in delivering completed apartments. In some cases, the buyers in the Givat Shoham project next to Modi'in, mostly young couples, have been waiting almost a year.

Although the past three years have seen a marked increase in the overall number of Israelis employed in the construction sector, figures gathered by the Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry show that many of these Israelis are Israeli Arabs, with only a bare majority being Jews.

`Construction is perceived as dirty work, in the rain and the sun, so its image has to be improved to attract more Israelis,' says a building company CEO.

"When I moved into my job here, I found the Construction and Housing Ministry suffering from image problems," says the new minister, Isaac (Buzi) Herzog, in his first interview to The Marker.

Investor and realtor Eli Shoshana, from the Haifa suburbs, thought he was heading for big profits. Three years ago he heard about a two-room apartment in Kiryat Bialik that was being sold by a receiver. Shoshana submitted a bid of $48,000 - and won. His win, however, turned out to be a big loss.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz yesterday approved one of the most generous land rights deals ever struck, bringing a smile to the faces of the Dankner family.

Derech Eretz disclosed its figures for traffic in 2004, and the numbers are lower than the forecasts. In the end, the company will not only not be paying the state a dividend, but is expected to receive from the government some NIS 10-15 million as compensation.

Contractor Yigal Dimri surprised rivals this week by swooping in to snap up a prime Ashdod plot from under their noses.

Business leaders look back at the real estate market in 2004, and offer investment advice for the coming year.

Minrav CEO Avraham Kuznitzky feels he is fighting Israeli conservatism about building in steel.