Lucky thirteen

Perhaps ‘revival’ wasn’t quite the right word to describe the atmosphere of this year’s real estate sector meeting – or maybe it was the right word?  but one thing was for sure: the guests turned up  in large numbers and were in a good mood, too

Poland, the Poles and the Polish language dominated the exhibition halls of the Expo Real trade fair. And this is not just the biased view of this particular Pole. “Sixty four exhibitors from Poland – in 2009 there were 42 – pushed our country up to the top position among foreign exhibitors, followed by Austria and the Czech Republic. Apart from the host country, Polish participants also bought the largest amount of exhibition space out of all the countries present, i.e. over 1,100 sqm. A year ago we occupied 810 sqm,” boasted Krzysztof Kiljański, the director of Munich International Trade Fairs’ office in Poland. In his opinion Poland’s spectacular participation in Expo Real was brought about by: local governments’ expectations for attracting foreign investors; the involvement of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) in the promotional campaign; and the cooperation between  Silesian entities, which also presented themselves together on one Polish stall, as well as the participation of other, smaller entities at the fair, among other factors. Representatives of local councils were among the leading exhibitors. As many as  50 came over to the city famous for its Oktoberfest and the representatives of each city aimed to convince visitors to the fair that theirs was the best location for investment. “We are looking for companies interested in purchasing land which is to be put up for sale soon in tender procedures,” revealed Agnieszka Nadolna, the investor service specialist of Gorzów Wielkopolski city council.
Sometimes it is easier to meet in Germany than in your own town. “There are many towns here that have prepared sales offers for land for development. They have been counting on the interest of local companies. Moreover, a few meetings with the representatives of local councils have been arranged to take place here. Sometimes it is easier to meet here than to find time for this in Poland,” emphasised Kornelia Bargielska, representing TriCity developer Ekolan.
The October meeting of European real estate market bigwigs, with its specific atmosphere conducive to meetings and business talks, as well as the less official talks outside the exhibition halls, acts a lodestar guiding the industry for the following year. And the tone of the discussions seemed to be more optimistic than a year ago. “The atmosphere at the fair proved that there is a clear revival on the market. Comparing this year’s fair to previous ones, a big change could be seen between Expo Real 2008, when the news of the financial difficulties of German banks broke, and Expo Real 2009, when the prospects of a revival could already be felt, and the current fair, which could take place in a normal business atmosphere,” remarked Maciej Kiełbicki, the managing director of Mayland Real Estate. “Development prospects in  Europe are simply excellent. This year we even started investing in Spain. Poland in particular has been within our scope of interest for a few years already; we believe that long-time investment in this market is safe and profitable,” asserted H. Cabot Lodge III, the president of W.P. Carey – a group of funds with American roots. Also Maciej Golis, the development director of Ségécé Polska, revealed that the company’s Polish team is currently closing the transaction for taking over Plaza  Centers’ shopping centre portfolio, but next year will be the time to take a further look around the Polish market and possibly buy another portfolio. “I have to admit that the atmosphere, the number of exhibitors and visitors, and finally the wave of optimism in the unofficial discussions put me in a good mood. I believe that Poland was definitely one of the heroes of Expo Real this year. It was enough to compare the attendance in the discussion forum room while presentations and panel discussions on particular CEE countries/markets were being carried out, to understand which country is the target for financial institutions and investors in our region. I also suspect that ‘Eurobuild CEE’ will soon be able to publish details of important transactions which were initiated in Munich. To sum up, I am convinced that the atmosphere at this year’s Expo Real fair is a good portent for the future,” stressed Piotr Pawłowski, the head of development of Unibail-Rodamco. Maciej Kiełbicki went on to add that the strong presence of  Poland at the fair shows that we are the leading market in Central Europe. Let’s hope that such sunny optimism continues for the next twelve months, until October 4th when it’s time for the 14th Expo Real fair.