Italy takes centre stage at Mapic

The 2011 edition of the Mapic retail real estate fair this week turns the spotlight on Italy against a backdrop of crumbling consumer confidence across the eurozone.

A relatively mature if sometimes intransparent market, Italy is - after Greece - arguably the eurozone's biggest problem child in terms of sovereign debt.

The real estate market is also feeling the heat. Although figures from CB Richard Ellis show that Italy saw the strongest growth (+69%) in real estate investment in Q3 compared with the previous quarter, this sharp increase was largely due to the low level of investment activity in Q2 and one or two large deals completing in Q3, the broker said.

Notable retail deals in Italy included WP Carey's EUR 300 mln acquisition in September of a fund that owns 20 Metro cash-and-carry stores. Nonetheless, a dramatic fall in available bank financing over the summer has virtually halted real estate investment in Italy, Alberto Albertazzi, managing director of Henderson Global Investors’ Italian office, told PropertyEU in an interview. Albertazzi said that as a result, financing costs for retail properties have risen to records of 400 to 500 basis points over Euribor from 200-250 bps just before the summer.

Mapic's programme of events dedicated to the country of honour includes a panel on how to penetrate the Italian retail market, pooling the experiences of market leaders such as Corio and Eurocommercial Properties. On the exhibitor side, Italian cities and regions such as Lombardy and Liguria will showcase their retail investment and development opportunities as they seek to attract foreign capital.

And chairman Mario Moretti Polegato of Italian shoe company Geox will deliver a keynote speech on innovative entrepreneurship. Polegato, credited with exporting Geox products to 103 countries only a few years after the company’s launch, will also be presented the Personality of the Year award during the Mapic Awards ceremony. Rounding off the Italian focus, a two-day study tour will fly from Nice to Rome immediately after Mapic, returning to Nice.

The full Mapic preview appears in the November edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to order your copy now