Build Green Cee Conference Opens 24/04/2008
Buildings account for 37 per cent of overall energy consumption. In fact, buildings and transport collectively emit 50 per cent of overall green emissions, participants in the Building Green CEE: Energy Efficient and Ecological Design for the Region conference concluded at the opening panel on April 23. The two-day conference, ending on April 24, is taking place in Bucharest, Romania. Participants agreed that constructing "green" buildings is an essential element of an overall strategy to reduce growing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions, both identified as the main drivers of climate change. To steer changes in buildings' consumption and emissions parameters, all parties involved in the construction of the entire scope of developments must be involved, said Joanna... more

Unicredit To Launch Real Estate Fund Report 18/08/2008
UniCredit plans to set up a real estate fund, following the example of other major European banking groups, which would use parts of buildings that house the bank's branches and other properties, Reuters news agency reported on July 20.The fund would be worth around two billion euro, Reuters said, quoting a report in Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. Contacted by Reuters, the group declined to comment.UniCredit was reportedly looking for an asset management company to manage the assets of the future fund, as well as advisers that would help it sell stakes in it, according to the Italian newspaper's report, quoted by Reuters.At the same time, private equity firm Fortress Investment Group was negotiating a joint venture with UniCredit's fund management subsidiary Pioneer, which would... more

British Investors Flee Bulgarian Winter Resorts 10/03/2008
Unlike other real estate sectors, where location, construction quality and infrastructure dictate the market, in Bulgarian mountain resorts the client is the crucial price-formation factor. Currently, around 90 per cent of winter holiday property buyers in Bulgaria are foreign. Just two years ago British and Irish investors formed the core of mountain holiday properties buyers, responsible for an 80 per cent market share. Bulgarians contributed  only a few per cent. Last year this pattern was reversed: 70-80 per cent were Russian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian investors and only 20 per cent were British and Irish, according to the Bulgarian-language monthly magazine Imotut koito tursite (The property you seek). Green Life real estate company released a report... more