Reasons to be cheerful

The mood at Eurobuild Conferences' 'Open Road to Funds' conference on investment funds was rather optimistic. However, a certain measure of uncertainty could be felt among the representatives of Polish funds, but the biggest players are looking to the future with some confidence

A handful of numbers to start with: according to Jones Lang LaSalle's data, the value of transactions on the investment market in the CEE region reached EUR 1.85 bln in Q1 this year - nearly three-times more than in the same period of 2010. The experts now believe that we can look to the future with optimism. There are indications that the volume of investment transactions in 2011 will reach EUR 4.5 bln, easily exceeding the 2010 figure of EUR 1.5 bln. Were the participants of the 'Open Road to Funds' conference also as positive? Generally speaking, they were. Dirk Ruppert, the general manager of Pramerica Real Estate Investors, and Otis Spencer, the co-head for Europe of Heitman, spoke about Poland's prospects with much enthusiasm. "Poland is fashionable. The number of investments has been growing, it is safe," - these were the words of Otis Spencer. Dirk Ruppert shared the same sentiments: "Poland is in an excellent condition. It is no longer regarded as a developing country and is now one of the leading European countries."
The belief in Poland also put into sharp focus how differently the CEE countries are now perceived. The market players again made a point of stating just how much the region has ceased to be homogeneous. In Otis Spencer's opinion Romania, Bulgaria and Russia remain the most risky countries. "We are actually happy that we have not established a presence on these markets," claimed Otis Spencer. Of course, this does not mean that is not worth looking east - at Ukraine, for example. According to Tomasz Trzósło, the head of CEE capital markets and investments at Jones Lang LaSalle, this eastern neighbour of Poland will inevitably become a significant European market one day. But for now? "So far Ukraine mainly just represents a challenge for developers," concluded Tomasz Trzósło.
It must be said that the representatives of Polish investment funds exhibited slightly less optimism, as they have yet to play a significant role on the market. And questions were raised concerning pension funds and their future. Clearly, real estate market players were anxious about the latest legislation changing their functioning. This was discussed by representatives from: BZ WBK TFI, Reino Partners, PZU Asset Management and Aegon. As usual there were complaints about the more restricted access to financing. It was up to Maciej Tuszyński, from Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank's Warsaw office, to deal with such accusations. "It seems that the scale of the issue of lack of financing is much smaller in Poland compared to other markets," claimed Maciej Tuszyński. However, at the same time he admitted that it is much easier to obtain a loan for financing the purchase of a finished office building than for a construction project.