Hanover. The countdown for the new real estate fair in Germany is on: With exciting conference content, around 100 exhibitors and special offers for start-ups from the real estate industry, the Real Estate Arena will launch for the first time in mid-May. "With the Real Estate Arena in Hannover, we want to establish a new, exciting platform for the real estate industry that focuses on the real estate markets in B and C locations," said project manager Hartwig von Saß.

"Our focus on B and C locations with their challenges and the offers we have developed for medium-sized companies in the sector are convincing on the market." The conference is about housing, sustainability, the future of work, trade and the inner cities according to Corona. Numerous companies and associations have already agreed to participate as exhibitors. Lower Saxony's Minister of Building and the Environment Olaf Lies and Hanover's Lord Mayor Belit Onay will open the fair on the morning of 18 May.

A special attraction will be the "WohnNext" project of the Bundesverbandes deutscher Wohnungsbau- und Immobilienunternehmen (GdW). Together with the vdw Niedersachsen Bremen and the Verband norddeutscher Wohnungsunternehmen, as well as several technology partners, the GdW will demonstrate how forward-looking and sustainable housing construction will be in the future. GdW President Axel Gedaschko will open the conference panel on housing construction. He will address the question of how housing construction can follow the rules of sustainability in the future and still create housing that remains affordable for tenants.

In her keynote speech for the Sustainability panel, Dr. Christine Lemaitre, CEO of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen, will address the "complicated relationship of the real estate industry to sustainability". Various approaches to solutions - also with a view to the framework of ESG requirements - will then be discussed.

Visitors will be able to discuss what the future holds for office properties after the pandemic and in view of new forms of work, using the example of one of Europe's most important media houses. The publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Carsten Knop, and architect Eike Becker will discuss the future of working environments using the example of the new publishing house currently under construction, the so-called FAZ Tower.

The second day of the Real Estate Arena will focus on the role of retail and its responsibility for the future of city centers. Raoul Roßmann, spokesman for the management of the drugstore chain Rossmann with more than 4300 stores in Europe, will address this question. Afterwards, Rostock's Lord Mayor Claus Ruhe Madsen will talk about his vision of the "Smile City Rostock".

And finally, Lord Mayor Belit Onay will look into Hanover's future. How can the many demands on the development of city centers be reconciled in such a way as to create an economically viable and equally livable future for the city centers of B and C cities?

Anyone talking about the digitization of the real estate industry and PropTechs in Germany will hardly be able to avoid Sarah Schlesinger and blackprint. The well-connected entrepreneur will open the panel on digitization with her keynote address. The real estate industry still has great potential for the digitalization of workflows and processes. It can even be a way out for the ever-increasing requirements with regard to sustainability and ESG. But how can this potential be leveraged? By the way: Thanks to special offers, PropTechs can participate in the Real Estate Arena at favorable conditions and present their business models.

The patron of the Real Estate Arena is Olaf Lies, Minister of Construction and the Environment. "At the Real Estate Arena, the issues that currently - as all surveys show - concern people the most come together directly: the fight against climate change and the affordability of housing," he said. "The time is ripe for a platform that builds a big stage for the interests and issues of B- and C-locations and smaller and medium-sized market players. Braunschweig and Bochum need different answers than Berlin, Münster different than Munich." The challenges facing the real estate sector are so multi-layered and complex - they can only be turned into opportunities through dialog and cooperation, the minister said.

In addition, the Real Estate Arena is supported by a broad network of associations and organizations, such as the Bundesverband deutscher Wohnungsbau- und Immobilienunternehmen (GdW), the Zentraler Immobilien-Ausschuss ZIA, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen, the Immobilienjunioren, the Stadtretter-Netzwerk, the Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten as well as the Architektenkammer Niedersachsen, the BFW Lower Saxony/Bremen, the Niedersächsischen Städte- und Gemeindebund and the Niedersächsischen Städtetag.

Numerous companies have already registered: Kaufland, Lidl, Papenburg AG, Immobilienjunioren, Aptum Group, Deutsche Kreditbank, Johann Bunte, JLL, Aurelis, Bund Deutscher Architektinnen und Architekten, Dornieden, Drees & Sommer, Gielissen, Goldbeck, Enercity, Baum, Bethge, Billerbeck, B&O, C-port, DW Systembau, Deltaland, ecopark, Elplan, Yardis, GIS Consulting, Gundlach, Stadt und Region Hannover, hanova, Haus & Grundeigentum, Hüttig & Rompf, HBB, Jade-Weser-Port, Joyce, Landkreis Vechta, Landkreis Cloppenburg, Meravis, Metropolregion Hannover Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Göttingen, Region Wirtschaftsförderung Niederrhein, Niedersachsen Park, Niedersachsen Ports, Nordgate, Oleg, Oldenburger Münsterland, Onpoint, Pfeiffer Interplan, PriceHubble, Spiri.bo, Stadtretter, Sparkasse Hannover, Vaillant, Köster GmbH, Engie Deutschland GmbH, Eisenberger Real Estate GmbH, Theo Gerlach, T1 Immobilienbewertung, Volkswagen Immobilien, Weser Wohnungsbau.

The Real Estate Arena will start on 18 May 2022 at the Hannover Exhibition Centre in Hall 23 and will be organised by Deutsche Messe AG and Real Estate Events GmbH. Around 100 exhibitors and 3000 visitors are expected to attend the premiere over two days. For more information on the programme and participation opportunities as well as tickets for the event, please visit: www.real-estate-arena.com