(retrieved from the Dow Jones Factiva database)

A strong presence by Middle Eastern companies was observed at the 19th edition of MIPIM 2008, the world\'s largest property event held annually in Cannes, France. This year\'s property festival was held from March 11 to 14.MIPIM 2008 is considered as the biggest property and real estate retail show in Europe, and each year its is attracting a growing number of investors and industry decision-makers from around the world. The 19th edition of MIPIM welcomed a record number of real estate professionals. According to the organizers, some 28,000 delegates from over nearly 90 states attended this major industry show. Among them, there were a total of 6,698 developers and 7,013 investors. About 700 participants came from the Middle East and Turkey.The notably increased participation of Mideast representatives reflects the region’s huge property potential and business opportunities. In fact, the real estate market has shown remarkable growth regionally in recent years.

Construction in the region and mainly in the oil-rich Gulf states has been increasing at a quick pace. Current projects exceed $1 trillion, and in Saudi Arabia alone the value of new projects has doubled to more than $200 billion over the past 12 months. The UAE market also offers many business opportunities. Key drivers of the real estate sector in UAE have been high population growth rates, a youth-heavy age profile, huge inflows of expatriates, higher liquidity levels, and proactive government policies, according to a recent report by the Kuwait-based Global Investment House (Global). Now, with the subprime mortgage crisis growing in the American market, property investors are looking elsewhere and the Middle East is emerging as an attractive destination.Taking these trends into account, it is not surprising that all in all, there were 142 firms participating at MIPIM from the GCC countries, and of those, 110 were from the lucrative UAE market. Bahrain was second with 15 companies. Some of the big names from the Middle East at MIPIM included Omniyat Properties, Union Properties, Sama Dubai, Dubai Properties, Aldar Properties, Sorouh Real Estate, Al Qudra Holding and Durrat Bahrain. The firms from the region demonstrated their most prestigious projects at MIPIM while some Gulf firms, mainly from Dubai, were sponsoring various events and facilities at the exhibition. It is a question why the region\'s foremost real estate developer – Emaar – decided not to show up….The Middle Eastern firms offered magnificent projects displayed by unique stands and the state of art technologies. Visitors flocked to these stands and expressed interest. However, the density around these stands was in reasonable levels, thus not harming the business experience. For instance, Sama Dubai\'s stand was impressive. It included all the iconic projects in the portfolio of the international real estate investment and development arm of Dubai Holding. These include Amwaj - Morocco, a huge US$2 billion project in the heart of Rabat and \'The Lagoons\' Dubai, a US$17.7 billion Dubai Creek waterfront project, comprising seven landscaped islands. In addition to the stands, an important component at MIPIM 2008 was its official program. This included over 40 conferences with more than 160 speakers. This program gave an extensive picture of the current and future trends of the real estate market worldwide. To sum up, MIPIM 2008 was a must for those interested to get a glimpse of the global real estate market. In light of the massive success of this year\'s edition, it will be natural to see MIPIM 2009 breaking new records….(By Gil Feiler).