The three-day Cityscape Jeddah 2010 concluded on Wednesday with both attendance and transactions far exceeded the expectations. Exhibitors, guests and officials who attended the largest real estate investment and development event in Saudi Arabia were highly impressed with the professionalism, diversified projects, industry focus and strong participation showed at the exhibition. As a solid proof of success, Cityscape Saudi Arabia signed on Wednesday an agreement with Al-Khobar based Sumou Real Estate and Development Company to be the principal sponsor again of next year's Cityscape Jeddah. The accord was signed by Deep Marwaha, event director, Cityscape Saudi Arabia and Saeed S. Al Nahdi, VP-Support Services, Sumou on the sidelines of the last day of exhibition at the Jeddah Exhibition Center. Commenting on the deal, Al Nahdi said the continuation of Sumou's support is a reflection of robust Saudi economy and growing domestic real estate market as population increases. Marwaha expressed his appreciation for Sumou's renewal of sponsorship, which would be its third year in 2011. Major deals were sealed in the three-day event. Sumou has clinched a SR500,000 contract with Bahrain-based Design Worldwide Partnership (DWP) for the design of a 1 million sqm resort in Half Moon Bay in Al-Khobar. “Among the major changes we observed were a greater focus on industry and the presence of more serious visitors. There was a 30 to 40 percent increase in customer-centric investors, bankers and real estate specialists,” Al Nahdi added. Marwaha added that the Saudi real estate market remains buoyant amid rising number of young Saudi workforce and high liquidity in the financial system. The Saudi economy has “weathered the (financial) crisis considerably,” he noted. “The positive response of our exhibitors and visitors was overwhelming. Most of them confirmed that the event surpassed their expectations for this year and that they looked forward to coming back in 2011. We are building substantially with each edition and this is positively influencing the rapidly evolving Saudi real estate sector. There were a number of major deals closed during the course of the three-day event and this success provides good momentum for the upcoming Cityscape event in Riyadh this December,” Marwaha pointed out. Exhibitors can't help but speak out on the success of the exposition: “There is no doubt that there are enormous opportunities available in the Saudi property market, given the strong response to Cityscape Jeddah this year. The implementation of the much-awaited mortgage law will have a positive impact on real estate and their values and will give a boost to more affordable housing, which is in high demand locally. There is a need, though, for the private and public sector to come up with new ideas and solutions to realize broader construction of affordable homes, and Cityscape Jeddah provided a platform for them to initiate discussions in this regard,” said Jurgen Jerre, head of Hines MENA and a conference moderator. “The number of attendees exceeded our expectations and they were more customer- and industry-centric. We surpassed our housing finance booking, reservation and application targets by 200 percent. We will definitely come back for Cityscape Jeddah 2011,” said Saleh Al Humaid, Marketing and Communications manager, Amlak International. “There was so much variety in terms of developments and attendees, it was very apparent that the Saudi property market is booming. The show was organized very professionally and hopefully we will observe the same thing in Cityscape Riyadh 2010 which we will also be exhibiting in at the end of the year. We will be making several project announcements by that time to capitalize on the excellent exposure provided by Cityscape Jeddah,” said Eng. Mohammed Al Ghamdi, Development Business manager, Dar Al Riyadh. “We were able to achieve 50 percent booking and sales applications for our The Rabwa in Makkah and Dorat Al Sharayi projects via Cityscape Jeddah. We benefited from the targeted audience the event brought in,” said Eng. Abdulhadi Mohammed Al Rasheedi, general manager of Aqarat Real Estate Development, a part of the Al Esayi Group. Cityscape Riyadh 2010, to be held on Dec.12-14 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, will gather over 6,000 participants and more than 50 exhibitors and cover 5,000 sqm of exhibition area. It will feature Cityscape Riyadh Real Estate Investment and Development Conference, Investor Round Tables, and Cityscape Riyadh Leaders in Real Estate Gala Dinner.
