property marketing

RERA to become a global advisory body

The Real Estate Regulatory Authority in Dubai is planning to expand and become an international real estate reference point with the acronym, Menares, it has been announced.

Menares - Middle East and North Africa Real Estate Society – said it will become part of several international property bodies. 'We are in the final stages of establishing Menares. We are aiming to build a professional real estate market and are serious about being first, globally,' said Mahmoud Al Burai, director of the real estate sector development department at Rera.

Rera recently became a member of five organisations responsible for regulating real estate affairs around the world. These include the International Real Estate Federation, the World Association of Valuation Organisation, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Asian Public Real Estate Association and the Urban Land Institute.

Al Burai said Rera's plans were in line with His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai's vision to become a leading, global Arab city.

Menares will be a reference body only, rather than a regulatory one, but Al Burai said the authority would be happy to assist any country in the region with their own property regulation framework.

'Everyone is looking at Dubai. Everyone is looking at Rera as the reference point,' Al Burai said.

The aim of Menares is to encourage real estate education, professionalism and real estate practices, he added. Exact details of the collaboration with the other organisations are still being discussed and will be announced soon.

Global Finance expands Balkans property investments

Greek investment firm Global Finance planned to expand its investment in real estate on the Balkans by setting up a second property fund, to be named Global Emerging Property Fund II (GEPF II), investor.bg reported, quoting Greek media.

GEPF II, with a capital of 350 million euro, was to be the next stage of Global Finance’s investment strategy on the Balkans, which started with the foundation of CERF I, which raised 500 million euro for investments in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.

Through the new fund, Global Finance will extend its activity towards countries like Ukraine, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, specialising in acquisitions of plots with “appropriate” location and development of offices and mixed-use compounds.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) would take a 34 per cent stake in GEPF II, investor.bg said.

Global Finance’s core activity was directed towards investment in office and retail centres, and residential complexes. However, in countries like Ukraine and Croatia, it would screen the investment potential of industrial and holiday property segments as well.

In Bulgaria, it planned to develop Global Gate Sofia, a multi-functional complex comprising offices, shops and apartments with a total built-up area of 55 000 sq m. It would spread on a 9 000 sq m plot, located near one of the capital’s central boulevards.

Office space vacancy in Sofia stands at 5.2 per cent, said Angelo Plakopitas, Global Finance’s founder and president, going on to explain that new projects were clustered either in Sofia’s suburban areas or along the main boulevards. Currently, one can hardly speak of real class A offices, he added.

Retail areas were undergoing rapid growth, propelled by new retail chains stepping on the market and the dynamic development of the residential segment. In Belgrade the company focused on office projects, given the vacancy rate pf eight per cent and rentals that were higher than other Balkan capitals, Plakopitas added.