Although considerably smaller than in pre-Covid years, the first Expo Real trade fair to be held since the pandemic was a success, the organisers of the Munich show said.
Compared to the record-breaking years before Covid-19, when more than 46,000 people would pass through the turnstiles over the three days of the fair, this year the show saw over 19,200 visitors take part.
Yet the organisers hailed the ‘atmosphere of confidence’ and ‘high-quality networking' that took place across the Messe Munich halls as delegates renewed contacts and pursued business under strict Covid measures.
‘1,198 exhibitors and over 19,200 participants made intensive use of the three days at Expo Real to drive future projects, gather information and maintain their networks,’ said Klaus Dittrich, CEO of Messe München.
‘Of course, compared to the record-breaking years before Covid-19, the show was smaller. But the new start was successful and Expo Real has once again proven itself to be Europe's most important real estate trade show,’ he added.
The main topics of conversation were the challenges posed by Covid, climate change and digitalisation.
‘Expo Real 2021 will perhaps be remembered as the most important trade fair of the last decade, as it clearly demonstrated to all players that the major tasks of the future - climate change, transformation, digitalization - can only be mastered through joint efforts across all sectors. It was so good that the industry had these three days in Munich to fill up on trust. The timing was spot on,’ said Fabian Hellbusch, head of marketing and communications at Union Investment Real Estate.
Chiara Aengevelt, managing partner of Aengevelt Immobilien noted: ‘Expo Real is Europe's most important meeting place for the real estate industry and the starting signal for the year-end business. We took advantage of that - on site and face to face. Also, the density of decision-makers and executives was particularly high this year, and the quality of the discussions was very good.’
Expo Real 2021 – facts and figures
- More than 19,200 participants from 52 countries (2019: 46,747 / 76)
- Total number of participants were divided into 9,916 trade visitors (2019: 22,065) and 9,296 company representatives (2019: 24,682)
- After Germany, the top ten visitor countries were: Austria, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, France, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Spain, and Italy
- After Germany, the top ten exhibitor countries were: Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, France, Serbia, and Italy
- International joint pavilions came from Austria (‘Austria’, ‘Europa Mitte’), Switzerland (‘Swiss Circle’), the Netherlands (‘Holland Property Plaza’, ‘Holland Metropole’) as well as from Barcelona, Lodz, Moscow, and Prague.
Read PropertyEU's coverage of the trade show:
Day 1: Thousands seize chance to discuss real estate's future
Day 2: More off-site meetings, some no-shows and a real buzz
Day 3: Biggest talking point and biggest challenge is ESG
