Paris, 25 March 2004 – Over 15,000 real estate professionals from 67 countries gathered in Cannes to attend MIPIM – the International Property Market – a 6% increase over last year.

A special Mayors’ Day was held for the first time at MIPIM and proved highly successful among attendees who heard talks by Mayors from Lyons, Turin, Bilbao, Vilnius and Manchester on the topic of urban regeneration.

Key figures for MIPIM 2004

- 15,157 real estate professionals from 67 countries.
- 5,501 attendee companies, up 5% over last year.
- 17,714 sq. m of net exhibition space, adding an extra 4% compared to last year.

The UK was the country with the most exhibiting companies (412), followed by France (327) and Germany (212).

Striking trends in 2004

- North America featured a 12% rise in the number of exhibiting companies compared to last year with newcomers such as The Gale Company, a New Jersey based developer with a mandate to create the new city of Songdo in South Korea, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Liberty Property Trust, Equity One, Terra International, and others.

Also noteworthy were first-timers from Canada such as Stinson Properties, a Toronto-based developer, and Central City, a developer from Vancouver whose project was awarded the Special Jury Prize during the MIPIM Awards ceremony.

- The Middle East made a high profile appearance at MIPIM with a dozen or so major names such as Emaar Properties from the United Arab Emirates and its project to transform the Dubai marina, Nakheel Holdings (UAE) and its The Palm and The World artificial island projects due to play host to luxury tourist resorts, Gulf Finance House (Bahrain), Dubai International Finance Centre (UAE), Alshaya Property Division (Kuwait), Bonyan Emirates (EAU), and Union Properties (EAU) among others.

- There was substantial growth in the number of exhibitors from the Russian Federation (up 7%), as well as firms from Central and Eastern Europe in general. Also worth noting were such firms as Oberhaus Real Estate Company (Estonia), Saliena Real A/S and the city of Riga (Latvia), the city of Vilnius (Lithuania), HCM Ukraine and the city of Kiev (Ukraine), and HB Reavis Group (Slovakia).

- Japanese professionals increased their visibility at MIPIM this year, bringing a large-scale delegation of public and private property partners. Major international firms such as developer Tokyo Tatemono, a first-timer at MIPIM, and also Mori Building, Mitsui Fudosan and Mitsubishi Estate Company came to promote major real estate projects with the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kawasaki, Fukuoka and the Osaka region.

- This year, the special Tourism real estate area launched a highly successful new idea of demo kiosk, enabling companies to showcase their hospitality projects, portfolio and expertise in a minimum of exhibition space. Ten such kiosks were featured including Adimac (France), Motel One, a German firm promoting low-budget European motels with interiors by Philippe Starck, and Puerta del Sol (Spain).

The MIPIM 2005 will be held in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes from March 8 to 11.

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