Two giants of the real estate market are to sit opposite each other over morning coffee: Przemysław Krych, the founder of Griffin Real Estate, and Paweł Dębowski, head of the European real estate team at the Dentons office in Warsaw.

Przemysław Krych is responsible for some of the most important transactions on the commercial real estate market in Poland, including the acquisition of Echo Investment. Under his leadership Griffin has become one of the largest investors in Poland and currently manages assets worth EUR 5 bln. Paweł Dębowski is one of the best recognised and most respected experts in real estate law in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Together the two leaders in the real estate market will discuss whether and when we should expect a crisis or an adjustment for the sector, as well as what direction the real estate business in Poland will take, what may surprise us, where the money will come from and how foreign investors assess us. Another question to be raised is what kind of global events might have the greatest impact on the real estate market in Central and Eastern Europe.

Proptech – many people have heard about it, but just like the yeti has anyone actually encountered it? Or even used or introduced it? Technology in the real estate sector, however, is one of the hottest topics of the moment. It has been seeping into our lives imperceptibly and it’s now hard to imagine living without it (just like our mobile phones being connected to the internet). The office, retail, hotel and perhaps also the residential sector – which of them is using the latest tech the most and which offer the greatest possibilities for its use?

In July, South African fund Redefine, which has so far been active in the retail and office sectors, concluded its first transaction on the warehouse market in Poland, acquiring nine assets from Panattoni Europe for around EUR 200 mln as its appetite continues to grow. And it’s is not the only one in the race to build up portfolios of Polish halls. How long will the race last? Is there anything that can stop it? What else, apart from the voracity of investors, is driving the warehouse market in Poland?

Questions from the audience to the conference guest

Less than 5, more than 6!

The news broke of the sale of Warsaw office gem Plac Małachowskiego at a yield of less than 5 pct  in July. A few more months have since passed with transactions at the same cap rate. Now analysts are estimating that the Polish real estate investment volume will come to more than EUR 6 bln this year. How does Tomasz Trzósło analyse the situation? This question and many more will be put to the head of JLL in Poland.

The most exclusive hotel in Poland, the Raffles Europejski Warsaw, was finally opened in May. Why have we been waiting for this brand for so long and why have other luxury brands still not entered our market? Perhaps it’s not worth waiting for this, since younger generations of travellers (and not only them) are switching to accommodation booked via the likes of Booking.com and Airbnb? An a Polish hotel chain operator and a representative of a company providing consultancy services for the tourism industry: two experts, two points of view, two different worlds, will lock horns with one another over the future of the hospitality sector.

Since March 1^st the retail sector has faced a new challenge: restrictions on Sunday trading, which will gradually evolve towards a total ban. How are retail chains and shopping centre owners adjusting to the new reality? Will retail centres now turn into entertainment and culinary hubs?

In Warsaw in September the news came in that the construction contracts for Mint Residence II and Galeria Młociny were being renegotiated. Are dark clouds gathering over the construction sector or is there some clear sky still to be seen? Should we be expecting more labour shortages, a lack of orders and rising prices for materials in 2019 – and maybe a flood of contracts too, such as infrastructural projects?

In August Knight Frank announced that Kraków had become Poland’s first regional market with more than 1 mln sqm of modern office stock. Not long afterwards, Wrocław joined Poland’s former capital in crossing this threshold. What is driving and stimulating the demand for offices outside of Warsaw? Do secondary cities represent competition for Warsaw?