Leading players from the real estate industry will discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the real estate sector in the UAE and Saudi Arabia at a virtual seminar being hosted by Informa Markets, the organisers of the Cityscape portfolio for the global real estate sector, on July 7.
Informa Markets will highlight and dissect the shifting sands of local, regional and international markets caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, in a series of virtual and live events which will help the diverse sectors across real estate get back to business in 2020.
The upcoming session, titled ‘The Impact of Covid-19 on the Real Estate Sector: Spotlight on UAE and KSA’, will explore the ongoing transformation of the office sector and highlight how the Arabian Gulf’s two most populous nations are getting back to growth through this evolution.
During the online seminar, industry experts, Dr Chris Payne, Chief Economist at Peninsula Research and Simon Townsend, Head of Valuations and Consultancy at CBRE, will debate and discuss trickle-down topics such as economic impact ripples caused by workspace evolution, the importance of technology in future workplaces, and work-life integration.
“We intend to highlight how macroeconomic conditions in the GCC over the past few years have been the chief determinant of challenging real estate prices,” remarked Dr Payne, a former chief economist at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
"Rather than follow the usual argument that there has been an over-building problem, we will stress that the real issue has been weaker demand as an outcome of fiscal constraints placed on governments by lower oil prices," he stated.
“Given this scenario, it becomes possible to model the economic impact of Covid-19 in the UAE and KSA. Subsequently, and considering our conservative economic and fiscal estimates for 2020, we can extrapolate how the real estate cycle will turn,” he added.
Accordimg to him, these models will be key to helping the region get back to business, exploring new and existing challenges and helping to identify the route to recovery for the real estate sectors.
Part of a wider programme of news, market insights and in-depth analysis available through Cityscape, future virtual sessions will explore ‘Retail: Looking Beyond Brick and Mortar’, ‘Reimagining our Urban Space after COVID-19’, ‘Impact of COVID-19 on UAE and KSA Economic and Commercial Sectors’, and ‘Re-examining Investment Strategies: Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Data Centres’.
In conjunction, a new podcast series will kick-off with special guests discussing ‘Looking beyond the Pandemic’ and ‘Industrial and Logistics: A Game Changer’. The series will culminate in the flagship live exhibition, conference and seminar programme, hosted in Dubai in November.
With extensive Informa AllSecure safety measures in place for exhibitors and visitors, this year’s edition has a renewed importance, as it reconnects the real estate industry to create new business following an unprecedented period for the global economy.
Chris Speller, Group Director of Cityscape, Informa Markets, said: "Much like Dubai and the UAE, Cityscape is ready for business. As a true real estate market analysis hub, Cityscape’s focus is on industry preparedness ahead of the second half of 2020 in what has been a challenging year for not only the real estate market, but the world economy."
"We truly support bringing the residential, commercial, industrial, hospitality and retail real estate market back to business through both virtual events and the flagship real estate live exhibition and conference in 2020," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
