Overview

A Real Estate Meeting of Minds for Poland

Warsaw’s office market is finally picking up, but its retail sector is moving into a state of oversupply. The regional cities are absorbing huge shopping center investments, and there’s renewed optimism for the industrial sector, but the local office sectors remained sleepy. Housing, almost everywhere, is hot.

This is the present environment for anyone working in Central Europe’s largest property market. A huge country made up of extremely differing regions, Poland’s very size makes it difficult to define and quantify. But nearly two years after EU accession, rapidly increasing expertise in all aspects of real estate is creating a safer, more predictable and more competitive climate in which to invest.

Now in its fourth year, CEDEP’s role as a property conference is to help deepen the pool of knowledge by providing a forum in which to trade ideas and experiences. But it also serves to help those new to the market gain a foothold by offering useful information and valuable contacts.

And this year, for the first time, CEDEP has joined forces with the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), an organization that produces conferences about facility management all over the world. This will have a profound impact both on the breadth of topics covered during the conference, and the spectrum of property professionals likely to attend. To fit everything in, an extra half-day will be added to the program.

In its new time slot in February, CEDEP 2006 will investigate not just general market trends and the current situation in the major property sectors, but it will take a more in-depth look at issues of great importance to professionals. These include planning problems faced by developers in Warsaw, corruption, and best practice issues between real estate practioners. It will also provide a view of what to expect from the Polish economy in the short- to mid-term and the impact this could have on the sector.

For those new to the market, CEDEP will also offer practical information on how to start a business in the country as well as an in-depth look at some of the most important developments on the market today.

CEDEP is organized by Roberts Publishing, publishers of Central Europe’s leading property magazine CiJ (Construction & Investment Journal) since 1995. In addition to the magazine, the group holds conferences around the region, as well as Awards evenings in the major capitals.