About 100 participants had a great networking session during the recent Asian edition of the Global Real Estate Institute (GRI) event held in Singapore. Participants, comprising senior executives from lenders, fund management companies and real estate consultancies as well as investors and developers from around the world, had a relaxed and fruitful time sharing their stories and experiences. The key takeaway is that there are still a lot of funds out there looking for investment opportunities in Asia. And that there are opportunities aplenty everywhere including in rarely heard of destinations in Russia and Mongolia. The US still retains its attractiveness as the top real estate investment destination for Chinese investors while many funds are still cautious about entering emerging markets. GRI’s idea of facilitating small intimate peer-to-peer discussions where everyone gets a chance to talk is possibly the best type of ‘conference’. Instead of a few speakers or panellists dominating the conversation, almost everyone opened up and contributed to the discussion. There were discussions on hotels, offices, retail, residence, debt markets, core markets and REITs, among others. Participants came from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, USA, UK and Canada. In conclusion, it was a great networking event and everyone left having gained a few more valuable contacts as well as some useful tips. By Jan Yong
