RE360 fair brings together Turkish real estate sector stakeholders
Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum speaks at RE360 event held in Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 15, 2021. (Courtesy of Alkaş)


Stakeholders and representatives of the real estate sector gathered in Istanbul on Wednesday as part of the RE360 Real Estate Meeting, organized by Alkaş, which has been offering consultancy services for the sector on domestic and international platforms for over 20 years.

The event was organized in partnership with the MIPIM, which hosts international property events, and was also attended by Turkey’s Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum.

Bringing together the Turkish real estate sector and its stakeholders, the event aimed at moving the sector forward with cooperation between the public and private sectors.

More than a thousand people attended the event in total, and 698 people from eight countries watched it online which was held in hybrid format due to the pandemic conditions.

Green development

Minister Kurum, speaking at the event, emphasized that although the coronavirus pandemic plunged the whole world into an economic recession, including Turkey, the Turkish real estate and construction sector has once again demonstrated its strength with its superior performance during this period.

"On the occasion of this special meeting; I would like to make a call to our industry. We want to revive our industry; we want to strengthen it. We want to increase production, employment, contribute to growth and economy by activating medium and small-scale investors," Kurum said.

Referring to the green development, the minister said there are two goals for all of us which are the 2053 net zero emission target and the green revolution.

"With the green development or revolution, all concepts from environmentalism, urbanism, agriculture, commerce, industry and even art will radically change and transform. We can achieve an important position in global competition by accelerating innovative investments and creating favorable finance mechanisms. This is exactly why we see the fight against climate change not only as an environmental issue, but also as a development issue," he said.

In this year's hybrid organization, issues such as the climate and energy policies, the future of the real estate sector in Turkey, global technological innovations, the reflections of the rapidly developing digital world in real estate and metaverse concepts were discussed.

MIPIM, a 4-day real estate event to meet the most influential players from all sectors of the international real estate industry, was also launched at RE360.

MIPIM, will be held for the 31st time in Cannes, France, between 15-18 March 2022. At the event, which is attended by more than 25,000 industry professionals from 100 countries, this year the Real Estate Investors Association (GYODER) will bring together local industry representatives with foreign investors with its 300 square meters "Istanbul Tent."

Throughout the fair, GYODER will hold panels on design, technology, society and nature within the framework of its main vision, which it defines as 4T, and will share Turkey's pioneering stance and achievements in the sector with foreign investors by hosting the leading speakers in their fields. The organization, which will open the doors of new business connections to Turkish companies, will also pave the way for new investments from abroad in Turkey. Turkish companies, which participated in MIPIM in 2019 with 206 institutions and organizations and signed up for 4,326 business-to-business (B2B) meetings, aim to reach similar figures in March 2022.

One-to-one meetings

GYODER Chairperson of the Board Mehmet Kalyoncu, for his part said, GYODER Istanbul Tent, where Turkey's worldwide construction and real estate projects will be presented, will take its place in one of the most visible and effective areas in the foyer area in MIPIM 2022, which is represented by Alkaş.

"MIPIM is a valuable and extremely important organization that brings together thousands of brands, including cities, local governments, investors, architects, developers, users and service providers," Kalyoncu said.

"We need to convey that our country is a country of opportunities for attracting new investments and international investors," and show that the country has highly competent developers and world-class companies while the legislation in Turkey is designed to facilitate foreign investors, he added.

Avi Alkaş, chairperson of the Board of Directors of Alkaş and official MIPIM representative, expressed his satisfaction with the creation of a unique synergy for the promotion of Turkey with the RE360 event, which was held before MIPIM and brought together all real estate sector stakeholders.

Emphasizing that the world's investors have turned their attention to Turkey and that the country has become a center of attraction in the global sense, Alkaş said, "World investors have focused on the Turkish real estate market recently. We observe a great increase in global demand from Europe to Asia, from the Middle East to Africa. We shared the advantages of the Turkish real estate sector with investors from all over the world at RE360 and we will repeat this at MIPIM."

Alkaş stated that Turkish real estate companies, which have signed substantial projects all over the world, can have a say in nearby geographies during the pandemic period. He emphasized that MIPIM will discuss the future of the real sector after the pandemic and ways it can adapt to the process.