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(28 November 2019, Hong Kong) MIPIM Asia Summit sits at the intersection of global, economic, societal and technological trends impacting the real estate industry. Despite Sino-U.S. trade tensions, the future of the Asian property market remains promising and lucrative with ample opportunities.
The MIPIM Asia Summit agenda was thoughtfully designed to showcase the future of the built environment enabling economic growth, sustainable performance and community cohesion within the region. The thought-provoking program rundown offered numerous presentations, panel discussions, keynotes and networking opportunities under the overarching theme of “Engaging the Future of Asian Markets”. Industry insights such as Asia Pacific inbound and outbound investment flows, regional development opportunities and retail real estate trends were thoroughly dissected by a list of key industry luminaries of the Asian property industry.
Dr. Y K Pang, Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, inaugurated the summit with a speech on Nov 26 at the opening ceremony. He stated that, “Hong Kong is in an unrivalled strategic location with free flow of information that gives global appeal to businesses. Corporations can do business honestly, fairly and with absolute confidence in Hong Kong which makes us the perfect gateway to China.”
Emphasis on Environmental, social and governance (ESG) seems to lead the future investment trend, as summarized at the “Global Investors’ Views” Panel. According to Laurent Jacquemin, Head of Asia-Pacific, Real Estate, AXA IM – Real Assets, “there is a growing interest in ESG in Europe as part of the underwriting. AXA pays a lot of focus to this, which is part of our investment strategies towards the future”. “We look at ESG to future proof our real assets. As a manager, we need to look ahead of upcoming trend,” said Chris Chow, Managing Director of LaSalle Investment Management.
The event also gathered international delegates offering a global perspective on the current real estate climate. Paris La Défense along with its CEO, Marie-Célie Guillaume, highlighted the attractiveness and potential opportunities in the area as a prime location for international property investment as well as a new lifestyle destination. She indicated that, “La Defense has attracted $2.7bn of investment; a large portion of that investment is from South Korea. Our investor pool was mainly from Europe and North America, but we are beginning to see a growing interest in Asia.”
There were a substantial number of delegates representing the UK. Amongst the heavyweight attendees from the UK were Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, who presented the driving forces behind outbound investment from Asia to the UK and discussed how investors could increase their portfolio value.
The event closed with a highly anticipated Meet the Chairmen session with an established panel of industry leaders which included Justin Chiu from Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited, Kenneth Gaw President and Managing Principal of Gaw Capital Partners, Marie-Célie Guillaume, CEO of Paris La Défense, George Hongchoy, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Link Asset Management, Suchad Chiaranussati, Managing Director of SC Capital and Andrew Weir, Global Head of Asset Management of KPMG.
Vanessa Cheung, Group Managing Director of Nan Fung Development and Adriel Chan, Executive Director of Hang Lung Group opened the programme on Nov 27 at the New Generation Leadership Series. Having taken on a leadership role in Hang Lung, Chan explains the trajectory of the company’s investment strategies in China, “Hang Lung is heavily focused on 2nd tier cities as that’s where the growth has been. Third and fourth tier cities are not sophisticated yet but are coming up.”
Vanessa also illustrates how The Mills is embracing transformation. She states that, “Traditional retail is only about consumption and transactions, but we position The Mills with the 3 pillars where we construct not just a place where people shop but one that is an innovation, cultural and experiential hub.”
Amongst the many compelling panel discussions and speaker sessions, a topic-based luncheon took place on the second day of the event that allowed participants to exchange practices and ideas. It encouraged open dialogue between industry professionals related to current trends and obstacles. One of the most notable topics discussed was the impact of climate change on the industry. Nadira Lamrad, Assistant Director at Business Environment Council, was present to delineate the risks and opportunities brought on by climate change.
MIPIM’s global director, Ronan Vaspart states, “Despite the current situation in Hong Kong, MIPIM Asia is undeterred to deliver the best industry knowledge and insight in the region every year to professionals. We are confident in the long-term growth of the Asian market and we know that it is now more than ever that these insights are most useful for businesses that to equip and position themselves to whether any storm that is ahead of them.” Vaspart reinforces, “MIPIM Asia will continue to be the leading summit where industry leaders gather and network.”
MIPIM PropTech Asia: Matching User Expectations
Closely aligning with the current trend, this year’s summit included a MIPIM PropTech day of conferences, which was held at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong in Hong Kong SAR on 27 November 2019. The event aimed to power the digital transformation of the real estate industry with the theme of “Matching User Expectations” this year.
Robert Wilkinson, Director of Corporate Solutions APAC at Colliers International, headlined the event with intriguing insight on “How tech enablers and disruptors will redefine the world of work?”. In attendance were industry leaders such as Aaron Block, Co-founder and Managing Partner of MetaProp.vc, Jonathan Hannam, Managing Partner from Taronga Ventures, Eric Cheah, Head of Investment Management Asia Pacific of Union Investment Real Estate, Antonio Hang Tat Chan, Vice Chairman of King Wai Group, James Fisher, COO & Director of Market Analysis and Analytics of Spacious.hk , Andrew Young, Associate Director of Sino Group, Adrian Lai, Chief Executive Officer of Liquefy Limited, Christina Tang, Director of Blue Sky and Chen Lou, CEO and Founder of Spacious, delivering actionable insight on the evolving narrative for PropTech regionally and globally. Wei Jie, Director of Strategic Partnership and Growth from WeWork, wrapped up the event on a high note with a keynote speaker session on the “Evolving Real Estate with Technology and Community”.
At the “Developers perspective on PropTech in the region”, Andrew Young emphasis the change in the real estate industry especially PropTech will take time. “Our advices to a lot of PropTech startups are to look for opportunities beyond Hong Kong, and to also focus on places that are ready for PropTech such as the Greater Bay Area, Southeast Asia.”
The MIPIM Startup Competition co-hosted the event with global real estate tech partner MetaProp NYC for the fifth consecutive year and revealed four short-listed startups that provided groundbreaking solutions to urban challenges around the world. The five fledging firms served up energetic, reality TV-esque pitches to an expert judging panel that consisted of Eric Cheah, Head of Investment Management Asia Pacific of Union Investment Real Estate, Antonio Hang Tat Chan, Vice Chairman of King Wai Group and Jonathan Hannam, Managing Partner of Taronga Ventures.
The winning entrants REOMNIFY and MaiBlocks Technology are invited to compete in the global MIPIM Startup Competition finals at the flagship MIPIM summit in Cannes, France on 10-13 March 2020.
For MIPIM Asia highlights click here.
