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MIPIM 2015: Back to work in Cannes
Peterloo Estates has attended MIPIM for over a decade. The past few conferences have seen reduced participants and little by way of transacted deals. This year saw a marked improvement; it seems the property industry is finally back to work.
If you're a MIPIM regular who's been on the company no-fly list since the 2008/9 banking crisis and decided to attend MIPIM this year 'for old times sake' you might have been mistaken that the year was in fact 2004 or 2005. As noted in our blog from last year, the market certainly seemed to be on a better trajectory last March but this year... bursting into orbit?
Peterloo Estates Director Daniel Barker again made the trip down to Cannes for a solid two days networking to find out more;
"Right from the off I sensed a buzz about Cannes not felt for many years. Café Roma was packed, general delegate numbers seemed to be up and I particularly noted the number of Americans present, which seemed higher than any other year I've attended to date.
"The talk of the town was, unsurprisingly, the Private Rented Sector (PRS). Everyone seemed to be developing it, funding it or buying completed stock. How much of this is bluster you never can tell but as we are strongly focused on the sector at present as well, I suppose we're guilty of fuelling PRS inferno."
The Manchester delegation were also flying the PRS flag with the announcement of a £300m fund to assist the delivery of 10-15,000 new homes in Manchester. It is envisaged that this money will be recycled many times over in a 10-year period delivering an investment capability of £1.5bn.
"The £300m fund will be controlled by the new Greater Manchester Mayor when the role starts in 2017. We want to help SME builders with the fund too."
Whether this funding source works in practice only time will tell but at least Manchester have picked up on some of the current barriers to entry for SME's seeking to develop large scale new housing for rent and tried to provide a solution.