The St. Petersburg International Property Show

On 29-30 March 2013 the St. Petersburg International Property Show took place in LenExpo.

The Show introduced more than 160 exhibitors including real estate agencies, construction and development companies, web portals, and mass media. The event impressed its visitors not only by its scale but also by number of countries from which the participants came ― the geography of the Show covered Europe, Asia, and America. Besides,traditionally the Bulgarian Real Estate Salon took place during the St. Petersburg International Property Show. The participants’ expectations were met by the event totally: the visitors flow didn’t run dry during two days of the exhibition. According to the statistics, the whole number of visitors reached 7800 people.

Whereas the autumn exhibitions tend to sum up the events and tendencies of the year, the exhibitions held in spring set the pace for the market’s trends. Due to experts, the most important events which have all the chances to be trendsetters in 2013 are not-joining Bulgaria to Schengen zone and crisis on Cyprus. It’s interesting but those events are able both to increase and decrease the demand for property among Russians who are well known for being unpredictable in force-majeure conditions. The only point where the experts agree is a fact that due to circumstances in Bulgaria and Cyprus the real estate markets of other countries popular in Russia (e.g. Spain, Greece, Montenegro, Turkey, Italy, etc.) most likely will succeed and show the increased customers’ activity. However, the visitors of the spring St Petersburg International property Show didn’t show any kind of changes in their demand and equally interested in all the destinations introduced during the Show.

Let’s see what the participants of the St. Petersburg International Property Show 2013 said about the event and its efficiency?

GRUPO ESMERALDA:«We’re a constructing company and introduce property in Spain on Costa Blanca. We offer all kinds of apartments, villas, penthouses, etc. situated on the first and the second lines from the sea. Concerning the Property Show we’d like to thank Aigroup for the great organization. Also we’re surprised by the big number of visitors. However, it’s impossible to say now whether the participating in the exhibition was avail for us or not. Generally, I have to say that the real estate market in Spain is increasing, and there’re many bargains. We hope that among Russians this year will be many customers from St. Petersburg due to new flight from St. Petersburg to Alicante as well as to a simplification of visa procedure».

ARISTO DEVELOPERS: «We’re a constructing company, working on South Cyprus. Unfortunately, the crisis in the country affected the demand for property on the island: usually our participating in the exhibitions is very fruitful. However, there’s a demand (although it’s quite weak), and immediately after the news about financial problems our office was full of clients who expected the collapse of the price in real estate market but it didn’t occur. Hopefully, the situation on Cyprus will be normalized till the next St. Petersburg Property Show in October 2013».

LON BG: «We participate for the first time in the exhibition and would like to note at once the highest level of the organization and management. Our company introduces luxury apartments in Bulgarian resort of Primorsko. The offer was interesting for the visitors. However, it’ll take the time to say whether the interest was specific or not. In general, we are very happy with the audience which is numerous and active. We believe that we will continue to take part in exhibitions of Aigroup: after the global crisis foreign buyers left Bulgaria but Russians are still there».

Miami VIP Reality: «We are novices on St. Petersburg exhibition: we’re participating for the first time, though had previously been on display in Moscow. As for our product ― a real estate in Miami (USA) ― then, frankly saying, our target audience is rather in the capital than in St. Petersburg. The majority of visitors of St. Petersburg Property Show are looking for mid-range objects, preferring Europe. Meanwhile, the real estate sector in the U.S. is getting more active, and when it comes to Miami, the number of foreigners owning real estate increases. However, there aren’t many Russians: mostly it is citizens of the Latin America».

Ee24.ru: «The purpose of our Web portal is not only to help to choose a suitable option of real estate in Europe, but also to inform about the legal, financial and other aspects of the purchasing the property in different countries. The project is still young, and our first task for today is getting contacts with potential partners and customers. That is why we are participating in the exhibition, which met our expectations».