Impressions from global real estate trade fair EXPO REAL 2008 – Serbia presented in good light !

The organizers have published the final report on recently finished (October 8, 2008) 11th EXPO REAL event. Numbers are impressive since there were total of 25,400 registered visitors from 77 countries, while 1,856 companies from 45 countries sent 42,000 exhibitors to present their projects. That is the average growth of 7.7% in regard to the results achieved in 2007 when the jubilee 10th EXPO Real took place.

The exhibitors rented total of 74,000 square meters of exhibition space in 7 halls of the Munich Trade Fair, which is 11,000 square meters or 17% more than one year before.

When it comes to performance and presentations of projects and potential opportunities for real estate market development on the territory of Serbia, these aspects have been the most complete so far. As we announced earlier, in addition to the activities of the national booth hosted by SIEPA, presentation of the grandiose project for development of Shopping complex "Brdo“, by local developer "YU Kapital“, took place in the special conference hall. Also, it should be pointed out that panel discussion "Investment Guide - Serbia" was organized within the Investment Location Forum, which was one of three-day 4 parallel forums at the expo.

EXPO REAL 2008 took place between October 6 and 8, while all the events that were important for promotion of investment opportunities of Serbia and further development of real estate maket took place on October 7.

At the promotion of the project for development of Shopping complex "Brdo", in front of about 50 exceptionally important potential investors, the southwest ends of Belgrade - the crossroads of Ibarska main route and Orlovača cloverleaf interchange - were presented as the location where retail and trade contents for about 400,000 citizens of Belgrade would be developed.

On October 7, Jasna Matić, the Minister of Telecommunications within the Government of Republic of Serbia, represented the investment opportunities of the real estate market in Serbia at the national booth. Following the presentation, at the cocktail party, the opportunity was used for commencement of discussion between about 250 guests and representatives of all our exhibitors and guests and, on that occasion, they were informed on the current situation and anticipations in the light of the ongoing mortgage crisis in the USA and all around the world. Some of our most agile municipal administrations were presented on that occasion and, especially, their industrial zones. This cocktail party was the introduction to the next event concerning Serbia!

The panel discussion about investment opportunities of Serbia was organized within the Investment Location Forum in front of about 100 experts from all over Europe. The panel moderator was Aleksandar Opsenica, the editor-in-chief of AG Real Estate, Serbia's first specialized periodical trilingual magazine, and the Director of REBEC manifestation, which was launched in June 2008.

The participants in the panel discussion were: Dejan Racić, the CEO of Delta Rela Estate, Goran Kuridža, the CEO of EFG Property Service, Joanis Ganos, the CEO of Blue House Capital Investments from Athens, and Nenad Stanković, a partner from the Lawyer's office Joksović, Stojanović and partners.

A quality discussion with the present audience followed the forty-minute presentation of the investment opportunities of Serbia's real estate market. General conclusion confirmed the obvious positive trends in the local real estate market, as well as the claims that, within the next five years, the growth in our market would be stable, positive and attractive to foreign and local investors.

It should be mentioned that two reports about the state of real estate development in Serbia were published this year in two prestigious almanachs. The first one is the specialized annual book - "Retail Space Europa 2009“, while the second is periodical publication "Investment Guide“, published by a significant European portal and magazine "Europa Property.com“

Having in mind that an effective poster, which invited the guests of the expo to visit the national booth of Serbia, was placed on the central position at the entrance to the Great Hall, next to the banner notifying the people of "The Green Thinker Awards“ (which was introduced this year), it can be definitely said that the quality of Serbia's performance at the expo was the highest ever.

There was a large number of experts who visited our booth to get familiar with everything mentioned above.

According to the unofficial information for the next year, even bigger number of exhibitors from Serbia will take part and have their own booths at the expo, which will take place between October 5 and 7, 2009, which absolutely and additionally confirms all claims about positive trends in the local real estate market.