At the recent Expo Real, leaders from the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) shared insights into emerging trends in the commercial real estate market, highlighting shifts in market sentiment, key industry trends, and the organization’s strategic membership growth across Europe. In a discussion with Property Forum, Robert Thornburgh, CEO of SIOR, Iain Finnegan, European Region Chapter President and founder of Finnegan Menton, and Matthew Leguen de Lacroix, Head of Business Development for SIOR in EMEA, discussed the evolving industrial and office investment landscape.

For many real estate market leaders who came to Expo Real 2023, it was an opportunity to look for new investment opportunities in the face of more difficult macroeconomic and economic conditions in the world. Experts from Walter Herz advisory agency share their insights on the current situation in the Polish property market. 

“In times of change, Expo Real once again confirms how important personal exchange is for the real estate industry”, says Markus Arnold, CEO and sole owner of Arnold Investments. This is also the reason why the company is on site with an international team from ten countries and an unchanged large exhibition stand.

With over 20 million sqm of residential and commercial space destroyed across Ukraine during the past seven months of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the country will need to be rebuilt on a large scale. It creates attractive opportunities for property developers and investors but also requires the proper planning and legal framework to ensure that the new urban environment across Ukraine is liveable, financially viable, and safe to invest in. The consequences of the Russia-inflicted war in Ukraine for the real estate sector was one of the central topics discussed at Expo Real on 4-6 October 2022 in Munich.

In 2022, Ukraine will participate in Expo Real for the first time. The event will host a pavilion with an area of ​​132 sqm dedicated to Rebuilding Ukraine. The organizing partner of the stand is Invest in Projects, a global promoter of the Ukrainian real estate industry.

In 2022, Expo Real is organizing a networking and information pavilion with 132 sqm dedicated to Ukraine, its cities, real estate players and projects.

The world of retail is transforming rapidly with key market players predicting the fall of secondary locations and the continued strong performance of prime locations in major cities. Rik Eertink, Retail Fund Manager of CBRE Global Investors’ talked to Property Forum at Expo Real about the future of retail investments.

Short and long-term European rates are expected to be benign for the foreseeable future limiting any negative impact on property markets, despite news of the recent bond sell-off in the US which could signify an end to the very low interest rate environment that has dominated the current property cycle. Strong occupier expansion, low vacancy rates and limited development pipelines have supported a gradual shift in market conditions to favour landlords, resulting in rental growth and stability across the majority of European markets during 2018. This has supported property values and returns, despite yields being at their cyclical peak, a situation likely to continue into 2019. That’s according to Colliers International’s latest Capital Flows Report, released at Expo Real.

Central and Eastern European cities have further increased their presence at the largest property event in Europe. Investment markets are booming and this is clearly visible when looking around the stands of Hungarian, Polish, Czech and Romanian cities. Our takeaway from CEE themed panel discussions at Expo Real.