13th
International Real Estate Investment Forum PROESTATE 2019 Summarized
18–20
September Moscow hosted International Real Estate Investment Forum PROESTATE, Eastern
and Central Europe’s largest event. This year, 2,922 people from 16 different
countries paid it a visit together with governmental delegations of Austria,
Turkey, and 20 regions of Russia.
40%
of the participants came from construction and development backgrounds. 14%
represented government, property management representatives as well as finance
and investment each accounted for 11%, 9% came from consulting, while
engineering together with architecture and design each sent 4%. Retailers and
hotel operators accounted for 2%, so did the participants from different
backgrounds. 58% of participants were senior managers, 37% were division heads,
and 5% were midlevel managers and experts.
For
the third year in a row, the Republic of Turkey became a partner country of PROESTATE. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Emin Birpinar, Ministry of Environment and
Urbanization of Turkey delivered his opening remarks. Later on, the
participants have been invited to enjoy a cocktail reception, where future
cooperation between the two countries and mutual investments have been further
discussed.
The
key event of the Forum — the plenary session titled ‘Housing and urban
environment: on the way to strategic goals’ — gathered top players in the
construction and real estate markets. They discussed a variety of topics, such
as sustainable development of the construction industry, Russian Housing and
Utilities sector, and ‘Housing and Urban Environment’ national project. Vladimir Yakushev, Minister of Construction
of the Russian Federation took part in the discussion. International
experience on renewal of the housing sector has been shared by Bernhard Jarolim, Group Director of
Building research, building regulations, engineering services, standards City
of Vienna.
Traditional
PRO
DEVELOPMENT business breakfast covered the topic ‘Construction of federal
scale. Frontrunner regions of urban development.’ According to the Ilya Volodko, CEO of MACON, who
moderated the discussion, the list that excludes Moscow and St. Petersburg is
topped by Sochi. The top five also includes Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar,
and Tumen. «Generally speaking, Russian regional development market remains
localized: 48% in terms of square meters is covered by regional players, 29% of
all areas by developers from the capitals and chains can claim 23 remaining
percent. However, lately the market does witness the coming of the
federal-regional developer class,» said the expert.
PROESTATE hosted
multiple events dedicated to various segments of the real estate industry.
Storage industry has been discussed at ‘PROwarehouses of Russia.’ A growing
number of customers looking to cut logistics expenses look for warehouses
inside the Moscow Ring Road. «Nearly 150,000 square meters of warehouse space
will be commissioned in Moscow every year now. The market will grow 6 times
bigger,» said Evgeniy Numerov, Managing
Partner at Skladman USG, who moderated the discussion.
Given the deficit and land
plot prices the experts saw a positive development trend in multilevel storage
facilities. «Classic warehouses do not work in the city. Multiformats are
required, such as combined usage of facilities,» says Yaroslav Darusenkov, Head of Consulting at Skladman Group.
Over thirty discussions
and seminars took place on the first day. The sessions have been complimented
by networking at the exhibition. Forum participants have had a chance to
appreciate the Ministry of Construction stand, the interactive stand of the
Moscow Government, take a look at cutting-edge technologies in construction and
management, and discover what is in store for the industry in the upcoming
season.
PROESTATE Media Awards
2019 gathered the brightest representatives of the industrial media community that
covers the real estate market. Across various nominations, the professional
jury awarded 17 people.
Another event of utmost
importance was the Expanded meeting of the Commission of the Russian Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs for Construction and Housing Policy. Nikita Stasishin, Deputy Minister of
Construction of the Russian Federation spoke about reforming the housing
and utility financing. The topic was further developed by Maxim Berlovich, CEO of EtalonStroi who said: «The state has facilitated
the switch, which I think is a perfect example of positive legislative
initiatives.» The expert believes that for the customer, the switch was a
seamless experience altogether. «The statistic tells that no more than 15% of
customers are interested in project financing; they are primarily focused on
pricing and location,» concluded Mr. Belovich.
Furthermore, project financing has been discussed at
the expert panel titled ‘Two five-year spans: what impacted the market after
the liquidity crisis and what to be prepared for’. Svetlana Fonareva, Partner, Head of Real Estate and Construction, KPMG
Russia, said: «Many developers found the switch to project financing truly
shocking. However, the newly introduced third party — the banks — takes on certain
risks as well, despite escrow accounts and individual’s deposits. This can lead
to potential entrance complications for new developers. Most of construction
right now is still happening old-style, so the adequate result of escrow
accounts will only be evident in about a year.»
At the panel discussion titled ‘Urbania diagnosis:
Interchange hubs, Instagram-tourism and other points of growth in the city’
Vitaliy Luts, Head of Prospective Projects Department at Genplan Institute of
Moscow shared the recipe to form a comfortable urban environment. Globalization
today propels high standards of life and comfort, yet washes away century-old
local cultures. «We need to form natural boundaries and defend them. These are
recreation areas and sporting grounds with cafes, green zones, playgrounds, and
architectural landscapes. They turn into gravity points for both locals and
tourists,» said Mr. Luts.
Investor’s Club
discussion organized with Moscow Investor Association brought together local
and global industry experts who noted structural changes and new tendencies.
Tom Bothen of One Chicago Commercial spoke about the foreign market: «Choosing
where to invest, you need to understand the specifics and the way that this is
going to work in a few years’ time. For instance, in the United States the real
estate market is on the rise. However, the main consumers are millennials who
rent expensive real estate without buying it. With that in mind, we can
forecast that in a few years developers may have problems selling new
apartments.»
In addition
to the business programme, the Forum hosted the Young Architect award. The jury
named the best of the best for the 11th time. Dozens of young
architects presented new urban and architectural projects that shape
comfortable city environment. The jury awarded 13 people across different
nominations.
Speaking of
awards, PROESTATE&TOBY AWARDS 2019 must be mentioned. The
ceremony closed the evening. The award covered all segments of the market and
identified the golden standard for the industry. Professional jury chose
leaders in all real estate segments and identified the winners in such categories
as «Developer of the Year», «Managing Company of the Year», «Consultant of the
Year», and «Person of the Year».
The Forum wrapped up with traditional property tours
covering all market segments: retail, residential, office properties,
warehouses, co-working spaces, high-rises, and premium real estate. The total
of 7 tours took participants to the projects that illustrate main market trends
and development strategies.
Event organizers: Roscongress Foundation, a
socially oriented non-financial development institution and a major organizer
of international conventions, exhibitions, public events, and PROEstate Events
professional event organizer for real estate companies and government agencies,
official partner of the Russian Guild of Property Managers and Developers.
Partners:
Strategic
partner — А101 Group.
Partner
of the PROESTATE 2019 plenary section — MosEngineerProject. Experts: Inteko,
Colliers. Marketing Expert — Network Communications
Conference
partners: Etalon Group, VEGAS
LEX, GR PROJECT GROUP, Becar
Asset Management, Galerie 46, SA MEDIA GROUP.
Partners:
Cushman &
Wakefield, AECOM, LafargeHolcim Russia, Triple+,
Etazhi Consulting, ODIN, Pro.rent,
EST Group, People Touch, INSIDE, IDAPROJECT, KLUCH, Promobot, SKLADMAN USG, Intelar.
