- 1,856 exhibitors from 36 countries
- More than 40,000 participants from 70 countries
- Industry rises to the challenges
Quo Vadis, real estate industry? This is clearly one of the questions to which visitors at this year’s EXPO REAL were looking for answers—and found them. From October 4 to 6, 2023, a total of 1,856 exhibitors from 36 countries (2022: 1,887 / 33) and more than 40,000 participants from 70 countries (2022: 39,932 / 74) came to Munich for Europe’s largest trade fair for real estate and investments. The total number of participants was divided into approximately 20,000 trade visitors (2022: 19,434) and 20,312 company representatives (2022: 20,498).
“This year in particular, EXPO REAL has again proven to be the industry’s working trade fair, providing the platform to discuss existing challenges, solutions and opportunities,” says Stefan Rummel, CEO of Messe München. “The real estate industry finds itself facing one of the toughest times it has seen in a long time. Increasing interest rates, stagnating construction projects, inflation—the problems are many. These are precisely the reasons why the participants spent three days here in Munich exchanging ideas and talking.”
The highly frequented conference program featured partly critical discussions not only on ESG, digitalization, urban development or demographic change, but also on topics such as housing construction or (re)financing—indicating just how great the need for discussion was.
Industry rises to the challenges
Dr. Gertrud R. Traud, Managing Director and Chief Economist at Helaba, confirms this: “This year’s topics were interest rates, sustainability, demographics and digitalization. EXPO REAL highlighted that market participants are aware of these challenges and are addressing them.” Sascha Klaus, CEO at Berlin hyp AG, sees “this year’s EXPO REAL as an indicator of the current challenges facing our industry. It has once again been shown how important exchange and networking is, especially in difficult times. After all, that’s the only way we can work together to find solutions and seize opportunities.”
Cautious optimism
However, despite the difficult omens, the industry also sent out a signal of confidence at EXPO REAL, as Dieter Becken, Managing Partner at Becken Holding GmbH, confirms: “Drawing on my personal experience from the past four crises, I am confident that we can overcome these challenges together. For me personally and for my employees, EXPO REAL is the appropriate platform to engage in constructive exchange with other market participants and to drive forward potential solutions.”
Prof. Dr. Tobias Just, Managing Director and Scientific Director at IREBS Immobilienakademie GmbH, gets to the heart of the situation: “A cocktail of rising interest rates, high construction costs and political back-and-forth abruptly brought to an end a long upswing in the industry. And yet the image of the ‘perfect storm’ is wrong, as user demand is intact in many segments, construction and land costs will ease again, and legislators are backpedaling at least a little. It remains uncertain if this will be enough for a recovery as early as 2024, but it’s not all bad news, and a working fair like EXPO REAL can be a good indicator of that as well.”
The next EXPO REAL will take place from October 7 to 9, 2024.
Robert Dobrzycki, CEO & Co-Owner, Panattoni Europe, UK and India: “EXPO REAL came at a time of challenging economic conditions in Europe, which unquestionably impacted the real estate market. The industry is at a juncture, where addressing high interest rates, escalating construction costs, and climate change, especially the reduction of CO2 emissions in building construction and operations, is imperative. The insights garnered from this year’s expo are instrumental in shaping our strategies to ensure the logistics real estate sector remains robust, adaptable, and poised for sustainable growth amidst the evolving economic dynamics.”
Fabian Hellbusch, Head of Communications, Union Investment Real Estate GmbH: “EXPO REAL 2023 sent a clear signal. The new real estate cycle will be primarily green, which means that all players will have to focus on creative solutions even more in the future. This green cycle demands retraining at all levels—from universities and craftsmen to investment decision-makers—it’s no longer new construction, but value-added development in existing stock and the intelligent use of existing resources that must be on the curricula starting now.”
Sascha Klaus, CEO, Berlin hyp AG: “This year’s EXPO REAL was an indicator of the current challenges facing our industry. It has once again been shown how important exchange and networking is, especially in difficult times. After all, that’s the only way we can work together to find solutions and seize opportunities.”
Ini Nsien, Project Developer, Logicor: „EXPO REAL helps us as we decided to do re-developments. This means that we are replacing our existing buildings with new, modern, sustainable real estate and have the opportunity here at EXPO REAL to make direct contact with the decision-makers in the cities and municipalities to promote our projects there.”
Daniela Steurer, Head of Marketing, STRABAG: “EXPO REAL is a giant network for us. This is where we forge new alliances, where we find new solutions that we can take home and implement. EXPO REAL is an important date for us simply because we meet our partners there, meet friends, to have good conversations and take good solutions home with us.”
Dr. Gertrud R. Traud, Managing Director, Chief Economist, Helaba: “This year’s topics were interest rates, sustainability, demographics and digitalization. EXPO REAL highlighted that market participants are aware of these challenges and are addressing them.”
Christian Walter, Global CEO, PKF hospitality GmbH: “Our expectation was that the atmosphere would be rather subdued this year. While this is arguably the case in some asset classes, optimism prevails in hospitality and serviced living, where operating cash flows are strong. For us, EXPO REAL is the leading trade fair of the European real estate industry and a valuable platform for exchange and project acquisition”.
