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Cityscape spectacular
The global real estate spectacular Cityscape hits the Dubai International Exhibition Centre from 16 - 18 October, with an anticipated 45,000 real estate professionals and investors expected to attend.
The property expo has grown from less than 1,000 participants at its 2002 Dubai launch, and the huge demand for the 2007 event has forced organisers to increase the amount of space available by 27% , taking Cityscape's size to over 70,000 sq m.
Rohan Marwaha, group director at Cityscape, said the event had become high-profile both regionally and internationally. Global investors were unable to ignore the growth in Middle Eastern property markets, with participants flying into Dubai for the event from 120 countries, he said.
"Transparency is still a big issue in most emerging markets. To the major funds, banks and financial institutions in Europe and the US, the Middle East represents a high risk for investment. As the market becomes more transparent through deregulation, more investment will enter the market. At Cityscape this year we have received more calls from investment entities than ever before.
"While China and India remain the hotspots on most investor radars, no one can ignore the returns the Middle East, predominantly Dubai, has offered over the last five to seven years.
"The value of projects planned in the Gulf currently exceeds US$1 trillion with the UAE accounting for one third of that."
Other Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have only just begun to creep onto the scene, and governments will decide how much foreign investment they require to grow these economies, he added.
"The region's property and development sector has seen a continued increase in the past six years of investments from not only in the region but also marked significant increase in foreign direct investment from the international community," he said.
International support at Cityscape 2006 was also significant, with government and development authorities from both mature and emerging markets promoting themselves to Middle Eastern investors. These included representatives from France, Russia, Canada, Singapore and Australia."
Marwaha attributes the success of Cityscape to its unique business model.
"Cityscape is a business-to-business event. We do not aim to attract the consumer segment looking to buy a second home. We are eyeing institutional investors interested in projects around the world, and by institutional investors we mean those entities that are prepared to invest over US$5m. The event has been very successful in attracting the truly big real estate institutions, banks, investment companies and fund managers. I see Cityscape as more than an international exhibition. The team is currently very much focused towards building a network of international institutional investors, VIPs and high net worth individuals. As this network grows, Cityscape will be able to offer a number of services to the real estate industry.
"Essentially we will continue to provide platforms, exhibitions, and conferences where information exchange can occur, but we will also seek to provide information ourselves through various online and print media.
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