Óêð
Eng
November 23-24, 2016 the II Annual EEA Real Estate Forum & Project Awards took place in the Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv where international investors and real estate representatives from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine discussed the investment opportunities in these countries as a whole and individual segments of the market, in particular.
The Forum organized by Ukrainian Real Estate Club (URE Club) together with Europaproperty.com was opened by Lev Partskhaladze, Deputy Minister of Regional Development.
The key issue for the developers of the region was how to attract foreign investments. It was discussed during the first panel discussion of the Forum. Participants agreed that Georgia and Belarus have good investment opportunities currently. In both cases this is due to their relatively high position in the world ranking of business conducting, economic growth, low corruption risks and political stability. Of course, the investment climate in Ukraine is also gradually improving, despite the political uncertainties and war in the east.
According to Bogdan Yarmolenko, EY, there is a growing interest of foreign investors in Ukrainian real estate projects. The speaker expressed the hope that this interest will be able to influence the Ukrainian government forcing it to implement reforms actively.
The Ukrainian market is of particular interest for Turkish investors. However, they are also interested in Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Due to the great interest of Turkish companies in conducting their business in the countries that were members of the Forum, the organizers plan to invite more Turkish companies to participate in the Forum next year.
In the discussion was engaged Courtney Fingar, fDi (Financial Times); Georgi Pertaia, Georgian National Investment Agency; Bogdan Yarmolenko, EY; Elena Viktorchik, National Agency of Investment and Privatization, Republic of Belarus; Burak Pehlivan, TUID; Matthew de Bruin, HORIZON REAL ESTATE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS.
The second panel of discussion was focused on the impact on the investment climate of tourism industry of the countries. Apparently that Georgia is a leader in tourist area. It can be demonstrated by the growing number of the foreign tourists, half of whom come just for recreation. This causes the emergence of the new hotels and also hotels that are managed by international brands. Most of the recently opened hotels are in the mid-range price segment. Belarus demonstrates us good development indicators of hotel real estate. In Belarus new hotels are also managed by international brands. One of them is Minsk Marriot Hotel which became the EEA Awards winner in the nomination "The hotel project of the year".
In Ukraine many people are placing their stakes on Eurovision-2017. "We discussed issues of the international song contest Eurovision-2017 with Alex Reznikov. Now we are actively working on improving tourism infrastructure and improving branding policy of the country in whole. For two weeks of the Eurovision contest in Kiev it is expected to host up to 20 000 tourists. In general, Ukraine will be visited by more than 1.3 million tourists in the next year,”- said Marina Rymarenko, DEOL Partners, summing up the discussion.
International hotel operators also see the potential for the future development of the region projects. According to Alexis Delaroff, ACCOR Hotels, today the development of the hotel industry worldwide is defined by globalization and information technology, in particular, the development of such services as Booking.com and Airbnb.
Panelists: Marina Rymarenko, DEOL Partners; Alexey Reznikov, KCSA; David Jenkins, The Rezidor Hotel Group; Alexis Delaroff, ACCOR Hotels; Tatiana Semenova, Alliance Group and Akaki Songuliya, Alliance Group.
Commercial real estate market of the region was discussed by the participants of the third panel of discussion. Today Ukraine demonstrates the highest rates of development in the sphere of commercial real estate. However, most of the modern professional shopping centers are concentrated in Kiev, next are following Lviv and Odessa, there is small amount of them in the regions. Belarus has good prospects in commercial real estate development. High-quality shopping centers are requested there.
Panel members noted the narrowing of the gap between global trends and their implementation in the countries of Eastern Europe. In these countries the international quality standards are more actively implemented. Many examples can also be seen in the office segment, where the growing number of developers implement their projects in pursuant to the "green" standards.
The discussion panel was attended by Vitaly Boyko, NAI Ukraine; Simon Scott, Leslie Johns Architecture; Irakli Kilauridze, Colliers Georgia; Natalia Kochergina, DLA Piper Ukraine; Andrey Kozin, Focus Estate Fund; Gary Burrows, ACR Partners, Belarus; Radu Shitov, UAI Uniunea Agentiilor Imobiliare Moldova.
The participants of the fourth panel discussion were considering the status and prospects of the residential real estate markets. This sector develops in all countries of the region and determined by the growing demands of customers who prefer convenient infrastructure and good governance. Another trend is cutting down apartment area. Speakers consider them to be short-term and also they pointed that increasing of the areas of public access cites in residential complexes came into importance.
“Compact little flats that massively arose in Ukraine are slightly different from their European and American analogues. In our case, they are rented without repairing and equipping"- commented Sergey Perchak, Director of development company City One Development, to URE Club. - " To the European trends and experience, which are gaining popularity today, we can include the form of placing infrastructure objects on the ground floors of residential complexes: small nursery schools, gyms, stores, cafes, pastry shops and other infrastructure additions”.
The members of discussion panel were mostly representing the premium segment of residential real estate and noted that this segment is the most sustainable and low-risk for developers.
The market of each country of the region has its own peculiarities. Radu Shitov, UAI Uniunea Agentiilor Imobiliare Moldova, stressed that Moldova’s real estate market is only Chisinau’s market and added that demand considerably exceeds supply there. Georgian residential real estate market is significantly affected by the tourism industry. Constantly increasing number of tourists contributes to the growth in demand for properties in resort areas and for apartment hotels and rental housing as well.
The members of discussion panel were very optimistic about the immediate prospects for the real estate market. Almost all of them are ready to consider new sites and projects.
The discussion was attended by Olga Solovey, URE Club; Clemens Lehr, Amstar; Simon Scott, Leslie Jones Architecture; Ari Schwartz, Seven Hills; Radu Shitov, UAI Uniunea Agentiilor Imobiliare Moldova; Tornike Tchanturishvili, Mardi Holding.
The organizers of the EEA Real Estate Forum express their gratitude to the partners: DLA Piper, MK Illumination, EY, Urban Experts, NAI Ukraine, Geos, City One Development, Alfa Bank, La Peonia, Mediatrade, Mardi Holding, InJazz, ProfEstate, Deol Partners, Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv, Wolf, EBA, ACC, BUCC, International Institute of management.
Media partners: 5 Channel, Business Ukraine, Nedvizhimost Belarusi, KAZadvancement, Economy today, GolosUA, ULF 2017, Property times, Pervi Delovoi, Business, Companion, Delovaya Stolitsa, Obozrevatel, Liga.net, business magazine "Delo" (Republic of Belarus), ProfBuild, StroyObzor, RealTimes, Property Georgia, Azernews, UBR, UJBL, Caucasus Business Week.
III Annual EEA Real Estate Forum and Project Awards will be held on November 23, 2017. The organizing committee has already begun preparations for the event and accepting applications for participation in the EEA Awards.
