Growing with the market
Adam Zdrodowski: How was the idea of a CEE real estate fair born?
Emilia Puławska: To put it simply, we saw a gap for a large real estate event that would be dedicated solely to the CEE region because there weren't any, not on that scale anyway. Moreover, all the major international real estate events like MIPIM in Cannes, or Expo Real in Munich, are focused on global problems and general solutions, and they do not express the needs and demands of the region. Since 2004 we have tried to draw on examples of those global events, but we never forget that CEE has a unique path of development.
AZ: Of what significance are events such as CEPIF to real estate market players?
EM: The main advantage of such events is the opportunity to meet thousands of decision-makers in one place, at one time and discuss your ideas with them. Or, should you be looking for a chance to invest your money wisely, you could find a number of possibilities. During CEPIF, the CEE real estate community is within reach and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
AZ: Do particular CEPIF editions reflect the state of CEE real estate markets, in terms of the number of participants and exhibitors, for example?
EM: As the CEE real estate market has grown stronger, CEPIF has attracted more and more participants. The numbers speak for themselves - at the beginning of the residential surge in 2004, CEPIF attracted 1,189 participants, and when the boom reached its height in 2007, there were 3,671 attendees.
CEPIF has always been a good measure of current trends in the region. For example, there were many Brits and Spaniards during the last two editions, and at the same time, there was a crop of British and Spanish developers and investors appearing on the Polish real estate market.
AZ: Is this year's CEPIF edition going to be different from the previous ones in any way?
EM: This year CEPIF is celebrating its fifth anniversary and we would like to surprise our participants with the magnitude of the decision-makers and experts who will participate in the accompanying events, such as conferences. We try to keep CEPIF participants constantly engaged, therefore this time we have introduced slight changes to keep the CEPIF format fresh and appealing.
AZ: What topics will dominate this year's CEPIF conference?
EM: The big idea for the two-day CEPIF conference is to present a full profile of all the key sectors of the CEE real estate industry: residential, office, warehouse, hotel and retail. All of those will be discussed during the first day of CEPIF, May 14. The main points of the second day are presentations of foreign investment possibilities and the topic of sustainability - the hottest issue of interest for the real estate community.
AZ: How will CEPIF change in the future?
EM: We are aware that competition between real estate events is heated and we do our best to always keep a step ahead of the market. We have a lot of ideas on how to make CEPIF even better and we are thinking about all the possible changes we would like to make. It is too early, though, to reveal all the plans before they are thoroughly thought out. For now we'll play our cards close to our chest - but we still have a few cards up our sleeves, that's for sure.
