The HSBC Property Expo will be held for the second time on March 5. It looks like the fair has gained popularity in just a short time, to the extent that all stand space has already been reserved by exhibitors. Business Today meets up with PIERRE MIZZI, Director at Duplex Real Estate Branding, one of the main organisers of this national event
What in your opinion has contributed to the success the same fair registered last year and the prospected success this year? You can measure the success of an event in various ways. Whichever way you look at it, last year was a definite success. Firstly, because from nothing we managed to create a national scale event with more than 70 trade exhibitors, and almost 7000 people visiting over 3 days. Secondly, for many of the exhibitors it was a success because they went away with filled appointment books, and some even concluded sales there and then. Those that didn’t, went away with a lot of exposure and new contacts they made thanks to the networking opportunity The Expo gave them. Thirdly, for the visitors - the man in the street, it was a rewarding experience because they found a lot of interesting things to see and those who were in the market to buy property found very good deals going.
If all this wasn’t enough, then in October we were awarded a Highly Commended Award at the OPP trade awards in London. Here, the first edition of our Malta Expo was compared by our peers with similar events done in other countries, and ours came in second place to “A Place in The Sun”, a truly excellent British property show that has been going on for years. We feel this was quite an achievement to be proud of, especially considering this was our first edition and with all the limited resources of our small country.
Considering that the day after we launched the event last year, the Lehman Brothers collapse broke out in the media, we’re very proud of what we’ve managed to build so far. As for why it was such a success, I think this was because of a combination of factors. I can boast about the attention we gave to every last detail and the dedication and very hard work put in by every member of our team, but that was just the beginning. The exhibitors and even the general public did all the rest.
Who is behind such an event and what was the idea behind it? The concept of The HSBC Malta Property Expo was conceived by us - Duplex Real Estate Branding in 2008 to fill a vacuum that existed in the local market landscape. Here in Malta, we have a lot of property business going on, but there was never an event that showcases everything Malta has to offer under one roof. As a company that provides professional services to most of the property developers and estate agents, we felt we could address this situation and went for it. We had the expertise, the contacts and the determination to make this a success. Right from the start, the idea was to create this professional showcase - a marketing platform that can provide opportunities that did not exist before it was created. This is another reason, the Expo was such a success. We created the event to fill a real need the market had, not the other way around.
What was the level of success as registered last year? As I replied to your first question, there were various ways of measuring this success.
What are the novelties to be expected in this year’s HSBC Property Expo? We have a very good number of innovations “in the oven” right now, but various things are still awaiting final confirmation so I shouldn’t divulge too much that might change. After last year’s edition we gathered feedback both from the exhibitors and from the general public, and I can safely say that all those issues are being addressed this year. However these were relatively minor things. We also had a number of ideas that could not be implemented last year, but are being done this year. A natural progression from the success of The Expo was to develop other similar opportunities for the trade, and we will be launching another important milestone this year. Moreover, a number of exciting new property developments will also be launched at The Expo.
I can promise one thing for sure - and that it that a visit to The Expo will be worthwhile for anyone even remotely interested in real estate. Watch this space for more details coming shortly.
Would you consider the fair as a one-stop-shop opportunity for prospective property buyers? Yes definitely. This is the one-stop-shop for prospective property buyers. There is no better opportunity than this to get to know the property business in Malta, and even explore some foreign property opportunities. Last year, I personally met a lot of visitors that came purposely to window shop. You know how it is, even if you’re not making an immediate purchase, just by walking around the stands and seeing how they are put up, you can get a good idea of who’s who and what’s what. You can compare the level of service different exhibitors are giving, you can easily compare prices and specifications and you can openly discuss any concerns. Let’s face it, buying a property is probably the largest purchase anyone does in his or her life, so any information you can have is bound to be beneficial. The Expo offers this platform, not only for developers or estate agents, but also for related services such as banks for example.
One important point that we are very proud of, is that we have received so much support from the industry itself that we weren’t pushed to accepting just anyone as an exhibitor. We started off with a target proportional mix of exhibitor types that we wanted, and we’re practically spot on with that target. I have to congratulate David Grech here, our Business Development Manager, who took this objective very seriously and I must say that his determination has paid off.
Don’t you consider such an Expo a risk, given the circumstances of a gloomy economic climate? Well everything you do has an element of risk in it. Even doing nothing is risky. In fact it is most probably more risky to do nothing about the situation, than to do something. Our risk as the organizers is much larger than that of any individual exhibitor, however we all have to take calculated risks to reach our objectives. There were a few companies last year that may have feared the risk and stayed out of The Expo. When we opened stand bookings this year, many of those were the first people that confirmed their participation. Why? most probably because they realized that the risk of doing nothing is far more dangerous than that of doing.
Could the event serve as a showcase to counter the pessimism that seems to have been taking over the property market? This was definitely the case last year and will most certainly be again this year. The advantage of The Expo is that you see people doing business there and then. Yes of course there is some pessimism, but not everyone is negative. People that sell property cannot afford to be negative or pessimistic, they need to get up and do something about it. The Expo definitely creates this opportunity. The Expo creates a three day window in which every exhibitor can meet maybe 5000-8000 different people from all walks of life. That helps in countering pessimism as it opens up a lot of new possibilities for business.
What were the considerations made by yourselves to turn-around the pessimistic overview that has been expressed by many key players in the property market sector?
Well our approach is to create the positive atmosphere that then influences everyone involved and ignore much of the negativity that is around us. I should point out that this negativity is often perpetuated by the media and not by the key players you mentioned. I mean no developer or property owner wakes up in the morning hoping for a crisis. Not that the media do, but they talk about the negative as it seems to be more noisy news than boasting about the positives.
Even just by creating the event as a showcase of everything the industry is doing, we are counteracting some of the negatives and bringing about an optimistic attitude.
It looks like there is a renewed interest in overseas enquiries for up-market properties. Would the Expo serve as showcase for this purpose too? From our own clients and contacts I can safely say that the up-market sector was probably the least effected by the slump. The worst effected were those that were not offering good enough value. Everyone, in every sector has become very quality and price conscious and you cannot expect to sell rubbish to anyone any more. Quality sells and The HSBC Property Expo is living proof of that.
Is the Expo being marketed abroad? Yes, we have carried out a lot of direct marketing through our membership in the OPP - Overseas Property Professionals and AIPP - The Association of International Property Professionals. These have reached tens of thousands of key players in various countries and interest is very encouraging to continue in this direction. We have also run advertising on various trade publications in the UK. Now we’re not expecting plane loads of property buyers to come here for The Expo, but everything helps. It’s still early days and with our limited resources we cannot expect immediate results. Malta is so small that it’s easy to overlook it as a viable destination. Our aim is to change that and in our own small way we have started to address that.
I should also mention that for the first time this year we have made an arrangement with Air Malta and The Palace Hotel to offer a flights and 5-star accommodation package starting from GBP 110 for people travelling from Heathrow to come and visit The Expo. Again, it’s early days for this to have any measurable direct impact, but it’s a start and as far as we know it’s the first time such an initiative has been taken. We are actively soliciting our contacts in the UK and other countries to take up this opportunity.
Duplex Real Estate Branding seems to have embarked on an ambitious campaign to raise awareness on design, and will be pushing this philosophy during the Expo. Could you elaborate on this? Yes, design is our bread and butter and we obviously feel very strongly about this. Like I said before, buyers are looking for quality and good design improves quality exponentially. We will be running a seminar on the benefits of implementing creative design in different stages of property development and this is open to everyone free of charge.
Being who we are and doing what we do, it is natural for us to give design a high priority. This is also being done in the design of many of the stands at The Expo. I can guarantee that no other event in Malta has ever invested so much in creative stand design, and this Expo will be a showcase of that. We are also designing a large stand purposely to showcase creative interior design in homes, but it’s still too early to go into details at this stage.
Finally, would the HSBC Property Expo serve as an important event for career building?
I’m glad you asked me this question. One important development we have been working on over the past few months was an architecture competition. In conjunction with The University of Malta we have set up a competition for 3rd year architecture students to design “green” buildings. Some of the entries will be displayed at The Expo, giving the students a unique opportunity to network with their potential future employers.
In closing I would like to that this opportunity to thank HSBC for their support right from the start. Without their assistance, the Expo could not have achieved the level it did in such a short time. I would also like to thank Keith Pillow our managing director, and the rest of the board of directors, and finally our staff, exhibitors and suppliers who will all come together to make this event another success this year.
