‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’….’it’s all about networking’…’you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time’….and so on - all things we frequently hear from real estate professionals. Hence the expanding world of the property trade show, which Properazzi sampled at last November’s Barcelona Meeting Point.
We thought we’d round up for you the pick of 2008’s events - a mixture of homebuyer exhibitions, industry conferences and expos focusing on cross-border investing.
THE HOMEBUYER SHOW London, March
The UK’s longest-running and largest consumer show, attracting thousands of eager buyers. The focus this year is more international than domestic (a 60/40 split), reflecting the Brits’ love for sunshine, sangria and second homes-at-a-snip, at a time when affordable property seems increasingly hard-to-find.
INTERHOME Moscow, March
Rumour has it that right now the Russians are going wild for overseas property, and Interhome last year saw a particular buzz around real estate in Spain, Croatia and Bulgaria - understandable when you look at the average February temperatures (-14 C in Moscow but a positively balmy 7 C in Barcelona)!
SIMA Madrid, April
Europe’s big hitters will be in Spain at the start of April, shrugging off rumours of market downturns and doing business like things have never been better. SIMA combines its public exhibition with an intensive programme of seminars for the investor, running over five days in total, giving delegates time to soak up the Spanish capital’s majestic architecture and see the local real estate on offer.
CEMP Warsaw, April
Central Europe Meeting Point’s run by the team behind BMP, and aims to deliver first-hand experience of the much talked-about ‘emerging markets’ of the CEE countries. As well as insight from banks, masterplanners and research agencies, CEMP walks its attendees round stand-out new developments in the conference city.
REAL VIENNA Vienna, May
Ah, Vienna…home of palaces, castles, the Prater….and, with the Real exhibition, investors scrambling for the next big thing in the residential property world. 8,000 real estate professionals in one big venue…
REAL ESTATE CONNECT SF San Francisco, July
“Real estate meets technology”. If this event was a property, it’d be a glass-fronted gadget-lover’s dream nestled in the foothills of Silicon Valley. Run by media giant Inman, Real Estate Connect collects the movers and shakers and the moneymakers on the Web 2.0 realty scene.
OPP LIVE 08 London, November
Growing by almost 20% each year, OPP Live is a reassuring riposte to the ‘real estate is dying’ gloom-mongers. The only UK show for anyone and everyone involved in the overseas property sector, it’s held this year at ExCel and opens with the presentation of OPP’s industry awards. Don’t miss it.
BARCELONA MEETING POINT Barcelona, November Eleven years ago, the cherry on Catalunya’s cake added to its roster of big industry events with one of Europe’s most popular gatherings; BMP now has 22,000 professional visitors, a world-class symposium and its very own blog
REALISEXPO Istanbul, November
The autumn’s biggest trade event, gaining importance year-on-year as Asia throw open its doors to overseas investors. Turkey is one of Properazzi’s top ten search destinations and Realisexpo’s where agents get to the nitty-gritty of how to lock in those attractive overseas buyers.
Six days is a long time in real estate, and we can happily say that after almost a week manning the Properazzi stand and running this blog, we’re pretty glad to be back in the office…
THE DEBATE
Barcelona Meeting Point 2007 was all about the ‘crisis, crunch or correction?’ question - looking at just how badly the US subprime débacle will hit the European markets. Positive messages came from some of the big banks (don’t frighten the horses!), the CEE researchers and, unsurprisingly, from Housing Minister Carme Chacon. The worried-sounding speakers were Leslie Crawford (FT) who spoke of Spain’s impending property market implosion, Russia’s analysts (who stopped just short of applying the phrase ‘Russian roulette’ to their property scene) and the child visitors, who said they weren’t even thinking of buying in the city when they grew up.
THE NUMBERS
The 22,000 professional visitors were probably busy meeting potential partners from 642 companies in the stands, as very few of them turned up to the Symposium events; the only talk with a full hall was the one on the hotspots of Eastern Europe. This seemed a real shame - all speakers showed clarity, brevity and humour, and listening to them was an education.
Despite the market shivers, BMP saw about €5million-worth of transactions done (expected to be finalised over the coming weeks), proving the organisers’ claims that despite the property sector’s globalisation, there is still no substitute for face-to-face business - and 60% of space for BMP 2008 has already been pre-booked.
180,000 ‘general’ visitors came to the Fira Montjuic this year; sales areas for the big developers looked busy, but there were lots of freebie-hunters who were not at all interested in the content of the stands, and the overall figures show public interest dropped by 10% from 2006.
THE VERDICT
So - what worked this year? The Professional Exhibition and Symposium had a good mix of countries represented, and the choice to devote a large space to Brazil paid off - the Latin American stands, exhibitors and activities they supplied added colour and vibrancy to the show. Speakers from Eastern Europe gave great, impartial insight into their homelands and were generous with their out-of-lecture time, agreeing to informal discussiopns and interviews (some of which can be seen on this blog). The weak point seemed to be, ironically, in the sparsity of local commentators - it would have been helpful to have more Spanish and Catalan market specialists in the seminars, especially as they were so well-represented in the Public Exhibition’s stands.
Also mentioned by the professionals we spoke to was the lack of representation of technology in the event programme. As the internet, real estate software and online property portals were such hot topics, it was a shame they were not discussed. Perhaps this is something that could be featured next year…
Another negative, in our opinion, was the proliferation of ‘azafatas’ - employed for looks rather than interest and experience in the real estate trade. This led to several conversations (overheard by us) in which attendees asked questions and the people manning the stand could not answer - embarrassing for the company which hired them, a possible loss of business, and a rather cheapened atmosphere.
One final thing - we’d love to be invited back for Barcelona Meeting Point 2008, but will remember next year to bring our scarves, hats and gloves - the space was freeeeezing! More heating, please it’s so much nicer to greet all those new contacts with (literally) warm handshakes.
We were lucky enough to be given an interview with BMP Director, Josep Maria Pons, who presented many of the speeches as well as heading the event’s organisation. He is adamant that the Internet must be used more in real estate…
Today, we met Enrique Lacalle, President of Barcelona Meeting Point.
We asked Enrique what his views are on the role of the the internet in the real estate industry.
SO…
Enrique has three daughters and will use the internet to make sure they live near to his house. He´s online to search for suitable properties, printing out details of promising homes.
He said that although the ‘net is increasingly important as a channel for property searchers, that there is a balance between the convenience of online searching and the intimacy of property searching in a conference environment. He believes that being able to meet the agencies face-to-face and visually experience the small model homes brings a unique experience that is still not found online.
We thank Enrique for his valuable and personal insights!
Mixed opinions on these little visitors - we can tell you that having a stand next to their creche area is fun for five minutes, but pretty hellish for any longer than that…
We got their opinions on the burning issues - what their houses are like, if they are planning their own pad, and whether they’ll rent or buy…
It’s already saturday here at BMP….The professional exhibition finished… The symposium finished…The Brazilian samba dancers danced…”free-pen-hunters” are still storming the gates…
And… we still have not found the true gem of innovation
SO LET’S GET SOME INSPIRATION for next year’s exhibitors on how to be “really special” for BMP 2008:
MAKE A TOILET SHAPED HOUSE !
See this toilet-shaped house by South Korean sanitation activists.
The World Toilet Association is dedicated to providing clean sanitation to the more than 2 billion people who live without toilets. The toilet house was built by Sim Jae-duck, chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association.
Saturday - and the Public exhibition is chilly, noisy and fairly busy. While a lot of people are clearly here for only the freebies, the stands with mini-sales areas are full; perhaps the state of the new-build market is not as bleak as they say?
To the sound of a samba drum group, complete with buff Brasilian MC, the first of three trips to Brazil was given to one lucky winner…
There’s another draw today - enter at the Grupo Sanchez stand, Hall 8.
Anarchists in Mataro have vandalized 12 real estate agencies, and left graffiti complaining about ‘punish speculators’ and ‘no to meeting point’ (link: Maresme Maulets)
Jose Luis Fernandez reflects on whether a ‘low-cost’ business model can be applied to real estate, as at least one developer at BMP is attempting to implement (link: IE Operations Weblog)
The bloggers at miparcela.com report on how rental prices are increasing faster than sale prices for the first time in years, and how BMP is reacting to the sales slowdown by highlighting new markets internationally (link: miparcela blog)
MundoHipoteca has a long post analysing whether there is a sub-prime mortgage risk in Spain, and references Leslie Crawford’s speech at BMP (link: mundohipoteca)
Marc Vidal questions the attractiveness of investment in Brazil, compared to closer areas such as the interior of Galicia, or even parts of the river Ebro delta. (link: marcvidal.cat)
