Nai Pickard

NAI at ExpoReal 2010 imbibes positive signs

Over 21,000 visitors from 73 countries visited Expo Real this year. The fair remains a primarily German event with domestic companies accounting for 80% of the exhibitor total. Nevertheless, there was a greater participation from other countries. In total, around 1600 companies are showcasing their products and services with Austrian, Poland, Swiss, Czech and French companies in particular. NAI Global appears with members from 22 countries on their corporate stand.

It was exactly 2 years ago, here in Munich NAI Global with rest of the real estate world discussed Lehman Brothers collapse and fund market implosion and all the property drama that followed it. And now ExpoReal can be recognised as the first property exhibition since 2008 that shows finally some positive signs. At the first day of the fair all the pavilions were full, busy even after 18.00 and with some live bands playing in the evening the whole atmosphere was elevated.

This year’s Expo Real programme features a number of panel discussions on financing, the place of the property sector in the overall economy and what role it will have in the post-crisis economic landscape. Generally all participants and press observed that there are finally signs of recovery in Europe’s property market, and real estate remains an appealing asset class and the evidence suggests that many investors are delaying rather than abandoning their investment plans. But market recovery will be at differing speeds. The real estate fund-raising market is expected to be at an all-time low in 2010 but the outlook is more positive for 2011 and beyond.

“We are very pleased that Expo Real is on the up this year, - says Andreas Krone, CEO of NAI Apollo, German associate of NAI Global. – Our country has recovered economically quicker than others, but we realised that return to growth will take time. We are looking forward optimistically as the German market is huge and there are a lot of opportunities here. We do not expect huge grow but we never had a huge down either’.

“Poland and the Czech Republic are still the number one choice among those investors who are ‘testing the water’ of Eastern Europe. But we are sure Ukraine will be soon on the radar as our neighbours come out of the shadows, - says Terry Pickard, Chairman of NAI Pickard, Ukrainian associate of NAI Global. – The Ukrainian economy has stopped declining and the country remains massively undersupplied with office, retail & logistic space. Although the Ukrainian market in particular was not a topic of the panel discussions but Ukraine was mentioned together with Poland and Russia as some of the best performers showing a rise in tenant demand and rent  expectations by Simon Robinsohn, chief economist at The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in London, and a participant on the fair’s opening panel.”

NAI Global had also a traditional NAI EMEA Group meeting after ExpoReal where they discussed the expansion and the strength of NAI Global as a Group. During this meeting the company greeted new members: NAI Estate Fellows from Poland, NAI Belux from Belgium and Luxsemburg, NAI France, NAI Netherlands & NAI Japan.  And by the year end new members are expected to be announced for the Balkans and the UK giving NAI more coverage in more of Europe than any other network.