ULI Greece & Cyprus successfully held its Annual Conference for 2022 on 27th September 2022. The event was attended by over 120 professionals from various disciplines of the Greek real estate industry and abroad, including investors, financiers, lawyers, architects, valuers, and real estate consultants.

The conference, titled “Real Estate Resilience in an Uncertain Word” explored how the current economic and geopolitical uncertainties impact real estate fundamentals and strategies. We welcomed Stelios Bouras, Journalist and Blogger, GreekGuru.net to host our conference.

The opening keynote speaker Andrew Angeli, EMEA Head of Research, CBRE, analysed the macro uncertainties that will impact real estate fundamentals and discussed the challenges and opportunities for property investors: “We forecast a shallow 3 quarter recession caused by the weaponization of energy” he noted”.

The keynote session was followed by the presentation of “Social impact: investing with purpose to protect and enhance returns“, the latest ULI report, in collaboration with DLA Piper. Sophie Chick, Vice President, Research and Advisory Services, ULI Europe who presented the report explained that “social impact really requires a new mindset rather than a new skill set.”

The main theme of the panel discussion ‘ESG priorities in an uncertain world’ was the importance of environmental and social factors for a successful investment strategy. The panelists were:

• Kiara Konti, Partner, Climate Change & Sustainability Leader (CESA), EY,
• Maribel Esparcia Pérez, Founding Partner, European Sustainable Hospitality Club and
• Stathis Potamitis, Managing Partner, PotamitisVekris-Law Partnership
• Ioannis Orfanos, Member of the Executive Committee, ULI Greece & Cyprus | Partner, Arbitrage RE moderated the discussion.

–The Panel on Capital Markets discussed how global economic and geopolitical uncertainties are affecting investment and returns. The panelists were Alexis Prevot, Managing Director, Brookfield Asset Management, Ruben Bos, CFA, European Real Estate Research & Strategy, DWS and Will Robson, Global Head of Real Estate Solutions Research, MSCI Inc and Tassos Kotzanastassis moderated the discussion. One of the conclusions was that “The market is facing a very volatile mix of rapidly rising interest rates, economies on the precipice of a recession and rising risk aversion. A price correction across markets is now the base scenario. Expect assets which score low on ESG to be affected even more heavily”

The conference was generously sponsored by

• Costa Navarino Residences – Gold Sponsor
• Hines – Gold Sponsor
• Cushman & Wakefield – Proprius – Bronze Sponsor
• Orilina Properties – Bronze Sponsor
• Potamitisvekris Law Firm – Bronze Sponsor
• R.E.D.S. – Bronze Sponsor