Cityscape Dubai is set to return to the World Trade Centre on Monday with strict measures in place to protect visitors from the spread of COVID-19.

The event is one of the few to go ahead in Dubai since the lockdown in March, when COVID-19 cases first began to increase in the UAE. 

The organisers, Informa Markets, have made a series of commitments to keep visitors safe, and arrival times have been staggered into four sessions across the two-day event to ensure social distancing is observed.

The event has been billed as an opportunity to reinvigorate the real estate sector, after a year in which markets have experienced falling sales and rental prices, as well as shrinking yields, as a result of the pandemic.

“The recession has severely affected real estate, exposing many challenges, yet also opening up or expanding new opportunities,” said Pierfrancesco Rocca, Junior Partner, McKinsey Middle East.

“While market actors wrestle with the short-term threats, it is critical to take a step back and take a fresh look at [real estate] as an investment class. Has its risk/return profile changed? How is it expected to evolve, in the mid- and long-term? How should investors best position themselves against it?”

In September, it was announced that Cityscape had signed a strategic partnership with Dubai Land Department (DLD) to champion local, regional and international sector-recovery across all real estate asset classes.

DLD will also be hosting a pavilion called “Dubai is Open”, showcasing potential investment opportunities from across the emirate.

There will also be a keynote arena, in which topics including the solutions to the challenges presented by COVID-19 will be discussed by high-profile real estate figures.

(Reporting by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Cleofe Maceda)

Imogen.lillywhite@refinitiv.com

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