Five years old – but finally learning how to walk

As it was one of his classmate’s birthdays, the toddlers were to spend the morning making party decorations. This occasion happened to coincide with the fifth birthday of another child (more of an enfant terrible, actually), which we commemorated in a rather more solemn fashion on September 15th. This child was born in the USA, but over the last half-decade became a true citizen of the world. In no time at all the infant had made itself at home on the old continent, in sunny Spain and Greece, as well as in the less hospitable climes of Iceland and Ireland. Visits were also made to Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary and even to the banks of the Vistula. Many lost their appetite for shopping due to the child’s globetrotting. The birth of this child seemed to be the only topic of the Expo Real fair in 2008, but what will the bigwigs of the property market be talking about this time in Munich? Which topics will dominate conversations over the Oktoberfest beer? Reading the pages of this issue you might conclude that five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which turned out to be the starting point of the worldwide financial crisis, the market is regaining its momentum. This year’s transaction volume in Poland is expected to be the highest since 2006. Investors have become more appreciative of niche products, such as warehousing and hostels. And credit crunch-hardened developers are now boldly moving into the ground occupied by investors and making acquisitions of their own. Whether all of this is proof
of a revival or not, one thing that we can’t complain about is being bored.