RealTimes Dive · EXPO REAL 2026 · Munich

EXPO REAL 2026

00days 00hours 00min

Doors open Monday 5 October, 09:00 Munich time.

Welcome · how this Dive works

Three steps to a useful Munich week

Read the brief Tab: Field guide Capital, clearing price and action: the three tests we run through the fair.
Build your Munich day Tab: Plan your day Turn the sessions that matter to you into one plan for 5 to 7 Oct.
Track RT/PRIME Office In the platform Prime office rents, each checked against at least 3 independent brokers.

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BETA New for EXPO REAL

RealTimes launches its Market Intelligence Platform

RealTimes Market Intelligence launches in BETA at EXPO REAL. Your ideas shape what ships next.

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Independent coverage by RealTimes. RealTimes is not affiliated with EXPO REAL or Messe München.

Wide view over the Grand Plaza Stage at EXPO REAL 2025: a panel under green light and hanging plants, a large audience around it and visitors crossing the hall.

Field guide

What can actually get done in Munich?

EXPO REAL opens with lenders keen but choosy, prices still under negotiation and projects waiting on terms, power and policy. This is the field guide to which of those can move in Munich.

Analysis · 6 min read · RealTimes desk

THE ARGUMENT

The room can clear a price without closing a deal

Munich may help buyers, sellers and lenders test a number. That does not mean the market has finished repairing its balance sheet.

DEBT

The lender is also on a clock

Debt funds are expanding the market, but their own capital has a maturity calendar. A crowded lender market does not automatically mean easier terms.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The new asset is not always a building

At EXPO REAL, the investable question is increasingly about power, networks and the land that makes them possible. The constraint may be a grid connection, not a planning consent.

Planning desk

Desk

Programme checked against the organiser's listings

Programme

5 Oct

Live desk opens in Munich

Live desk

07:15

Morning brief, daily from Mon 5 Oct

Morning brief

17:30

Evening wrap: what changed in the rooms

Evening wrap

Rule

We report deals only when signed

Standard

Call

Office or Logistics Fund Partner, Europe

Office or Logistics Fund Partner · Europe

Call

Head of Office Lending, Europe

Head of Office Lending · Europe

Call

Office Valuation Director, Europe

Office Valuation Director · Europe

First look: RealTimes Market Intelligence. Every figure sourced. Every source named. Learn more →

Red brick and glass residential and office blocks lining the Sandtorkai quay in Hamburg's HafenCity, reflected in the harbour basin under a bright summer sky with moored boats along the water.

Photo: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0

GERMANY

Germany is reopening by postcode, not by headline

Investment, vacancy and rent are telling different stories in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt. The host market is not one trade.

Varso Tower and the Złota 44 residential tower rising over central Warsaw under a clear blue sky, with the Rondo Daszyńskiego office cluster, including Warsaw Spire, on the skyline behind.

Photo: Cybularny, CC0 1.0

POLAND

Poland arrives city by city, not as one pavilion

Warsaw, Silesia, Łódź and Wrocław each run their own stand in Hall A2. What that says about who sells Poland to international capital, and about who is buying.

The Pankrác high-rise cluster in Prague 4 on a clear summer evening, seen over a broad band of treetops: an older glass tower & the Panorama Hotel on the left, the glass City Tower & the twisted twin blocks of V Tower on the right.

Photo: Jakub Súkeník, CC BY-SA 4.0

CZECHIA AND SLOVAKIA

Czechia and Slovakia: whose money sets the price?

Czechia brings one national exposition to Munich and a market driven by its own capital. Is Prague's tight yield a sign of depth, or a door outside buyers struggle to open?

Bucharest's Sky Tower catching the last warm light at sunset, rising above the Floreasca office district and two tower cranes, seen across the frozen surface of Herăstrău lake under a pink and amber sky.

Photo: Andrei-Daniel Nicolae, CC BY 2.0

ROMANIA

Romania's yield premium: a reward for moving first or a warning?

Romania comes to Munich on a chamber-led stand with the widest prime office yield in one broker's CEE list. Is that a reward, or the price of thin liquidity?

Flags outside the west entrance of Messe München during EXPO REAL 2025, with the glass entrance hall and a few visitors walking past.

Planner

Build a Munich day

Six curated routes; pick sessions and take the day away as one calendar file.

Build a Munich day

Where to be, Mon 5 to Wed 7 Oct.

Six curated routes, at most five sessions a day each. Pick yours; take the day away as one calendar file.

Open the planner →

Mon 5 Oct22 curated sessionsDebt and refinancing, Germany by city, Central and Eastern Europe… Tue 6 Oct22 curated sessionsDebt and refinancing, Germany by city, Central and Eastern Europe… Wed 7 Oct12 curated sessionsDebt and refinancing, Germany by city, Central and Eastern Europe… 15 Oct 2026Expo Real Aftertaste · RealTimesWarsaw · the RealTimes debrief after Munich

Arguments to take into the halls

Conceptual illustration: a gold footbridge spanning two pale plinths, carried on stacked, offset layers of green, off-white and gold of different lengths.

Debt

The refinancing gap is a terms gap, not a capital gap.

Counter: Credit standards are still tightening, so for weaker assets the capital itself is missing, not only its price.

Debt

Debt funds widen the market, but their own capital runs on a maturity calendar.

Counter: Non-bank lenders are now a durable part of the market and work alongside banks, so the clock is managed rather than a cliff.

Conceptual illustration: a dark green block and an off-white block edging towards each other across a thin glass grid, a line of gold light where they almost align.

Clearing price

A clearing price is a conversation before it is a trade.

Counter: Trades are closing anyway: German volume ran 15% ahead of last year in the first half, with 21 deals above €100m, so the conversation is already turning into trades.

Conceptual illustration: a model of a windowless dark green data hall on a pale plinth, fed by thin gold cables from a small abstract substation.

Infrastructure

Power connection is worth more than entitled land.

Counter: European capacity is still set to grow 20% this year, which suggests grid access is a cost to price, not a wall.

Frankfurt's banking-district towers above the River Main, seen from the Holbeinsteg footbridge on an overcast day.

Germany

Germany is reopening by postcode, not by headline.

Counter: National volume is up 15%, so the recovery is broader than a handful of postcodes.

City briefs

CEE in 90 seconds

WarsawPoland · prime office yield 5.75% (Q2 2026)

PragueCzechia · prime office yield 5.00% (Q2 2026)

BratislavaSlovakia · prime office yield 6.25% (Q2 2026)

BudapestHungary · prime office yield 6.25% (Q2 2026)

BucharestRomania · prime office yield 7.25% (Q2 2026)

Cushman and Wakefield · Q2 2026 · Prime office · See the yield ladder →

Editor's note

An editor's note

Munich is full of claims that a market has turned. This Dive is built to ask a narrower question: what evidence would make that claim useful? We look for capital with terms, prices that can clear and projects that can move. Where the evidence is thin, we say so. Where a conversation is only a conversation, we leave it that way.

RealTimes PeerView

A confirmed conversation, not a crowded stand

A PeerView is a prepared, time-bounded exchange between two senior peers, curated and briefed by RealTimes ahead of EXPO REAL 2026. It is not a meeting slot, a pitch or a one-sided conversation. Sponsors and executives take part on different terms, and every match follows the same brief.

Two senior peers, selected to meet as equals
Both sides briefed in advance, on an agenda agreed before the conversation starts
Curated by RealTimes, the same standard behind the RealTimes PeerViews film series and RealTimes event stages

Partner a PeerView at EXPO REAL Take part as a peer

Watch RealTimes PeerViews

Through the cycles

The crowd came back. The stands did not.

Six years after its 2019 record (five editions; 2020 was cancelled), EXPO REAL has 90% of its crowd and 80% of its exhibitors. After 2008, the stands never fell that far.

RealTimes desk

Last timeThe 2008 record of 1,856 exhibitors fell in 2017, nine editions later, with 2,003.
This timeExhibitors have fallen three editions running: 1,887, 1,856, 1,778, 1,742.
Rates are context, not causeIn the year to the 2023 fair the ECB raised its main rate from 1.25% to 4.50%, the steepest twelve months in the series. Exhibitors slipped 1.6%.
This fairOpens 5 Oct, 19 days after the ECB raised its main rate to 2.65%.

Both cycles count all participants, trade visitors plus exhibitor staff, so they compare like for like. The 2022, 2024 and 2025 participant totals are the organiser’s rounded figures. Sources: ECB key interest rates; EXPO REAL final reports and contemporary press, 1998 to 2025, linked edition by edition under “See the data”. From 28 Jun 2000 to 14 Oct 2008 the main rate is the minimum bid rate of variable-rate tenders.

Exhibitors and participants at each EXPO REAL as a share of the record edition, comparing the recovery after 2019 (2,189 exhibitors) with the recovery after 2008 (1,856 exhibitors). In 2025 the fair had 1,742 exhibitors, 80% of its record, against 89% at the same point after 2008. Participants reached 42,000, 90% of the record, against 88% last time. Last time exhibitors beat the 2008 record in 2017, 9 editions on, with 2,003. 2020 was cancelled and is shown as a gap. The ECB main rate on opening day ran from 4.25% down to 0.00% after 2008, and from 0.00% up to 4.50% after 2019; it is 2.65% as the 2026 fair opens.

See the data

Editions

1998 147 exhibitors, 2,528 trade visitors (retrospective count, organiser blog 2017). “What do we do if nobody comes?” The 1998 fair filled one hall at the M,O,C. Source
1999 324 exhibitors, 4,500 trade visitors; ECB 2.50% on opening day. “Almost exclusively good marks.” Source
2000 Figures not published. “Exhibitors and visitors are both highly content with the results.” Source
2001 900 exhibitors; ECB 3.75% on opening day. “In the real-estate industry's field of vision.” Source
2002 1,188 exhibitors (pre-show registrations); ECB 3.25% on opening day. Source
2003 1,279 exhibitors, 16,000 trade visitors; ECB 2.00% on opening day. Source
2004 1,344 exhibitors, 17,700 trade visitors; ECB 2.00% on opening day. “Growing confidence.” Source
2005 1,415 exhibitors, 18,000 trade visitors; ECB 2.00% on opening day. “Excellent mood in the halls.” Source
2006 1,638 exhibitors, 21,000 trade visitors; ECB 3.25% on opening day. “Record figures, driven by internationalisation.” Source
2007 1,823 exhibitors, 39,000 all participants; ECB 4.00% on opening day. “Breaks attendance record. Ten-year expansion through international demand.” Source
2008 1,856 exhibitors, 42,000 all participants; ECB 4.25% on opening day. “Growth despite the credit crisis.” Source
2009 1,580 exhibitors, 36,000 all participants; ECB 1.00% on opening day. “Back down to earth.” Source
2010 1,645 exhibitors, 37,000 all participants; ECB 1.00% on opening day. “The industry is on the up.” Source
2011 1,610 exhibitors, 37,000 all participants; ECB 1.50% on opening day. “An anchor of stability for the industry, despite turbulence on the financial markets.” Source
2012 1,700 exhibitors, 38,000 all participants; ECB 0.75% on opening day. “New record exhibitor numbers despite crisis.” (organiser's claim; 1,700 is below the 2008 peak) Source
2013 1,663 exhibitors, 36,000 all participants; ECB 0.50% on opening day. “Good mood, more concrete business and greater optimism than in recent years.” Source
2014 1,655 exhibitors, 36,900 all participants; ECB 0.05% on opening day. “International participation grows; positive investment and financing mood continues.” Source
2015 1,707 exhibitors, 37,857 all participants; ECB 0.05% on opening day. “Light growth.” Source
2016 1,768 exhibitors, 39,101 all participants; ECB 0.00% on opening day. “Europe has to stick together. Brexit was the principal discussion topic.” Source
2017 2,003 exhibitors, 41,775 all participants; ECB 0.00% on opening day. “Strong and watchful.” Source
2018 2,095 exhibitors, 44,536 all participants; ECB 0.00% on opening day. “Record results.” Source
2019 2,189 exhibitors, 46,747 all participants; ECB 0.00% on opening day. “Strong showing and upbeat expectations.” Source
2020 Cancelled. “Cancelled because of worsening COVID-19 conditions. Both the physical and digital parts were cancelled.” Source
2021 1,198 exhibitors, 19,200 all participants; ECB 0.00% on opening day. “New start successful.” Source
2022 1,887 exhibitors, 40,000 all participants; ECB 1.25% on opening day. “Real estate industry at a turning point.” Source
2023 1,856 exhibitors, 40,238 all participants; ECB 4.50% on opening day. “Room for reorientation amid uncertainty.” Source
2024 1,778 exhibitors, 40,000 all participants; ECB 3.65% on opening day. “Slight sense of confidence in a changing market.” Source
2025 1,742 exhibitors, 42,000 all participants; ECB 2.15% on opening day. “Provides impetus. Cautious optimism. The industry is focusing on the future.” Source

ECB rate changes

Date each change took effect. ECB key interest rates

1 Jan 1999 main 3.00%, deposit 2.00%
4 Jan 1999 main 3.00%, deposit 2.75%
22 Jan 1999 main 3.00%, deposit 2.00%
9 Apr 1999 main 2.50%, deposit 1.50%
5 Nov 1999 main 3.00%, deposit 2.00%
4 Feb 2000 main 3.25%, deposit 2.25%
17 Mar 2000 main 3.50%, deposit 2.50%
28 Apr 2000 main 3.75%, deposit 2.75%
9 Jun 2000 main 4.25%, deposit 3.25%
28 Jun 2000 main 4.25%, deposit 3.25%
1 Sep 2000 main 4.50%, deposit 3.50%
6 Oct 2000 main 4.75%, deposit 3.75%
11 May 2001 main 4.50%, deposit 3.50%
31 Aug 2001 main 4.25%, deposit 3.25%
18 Sep 2001 main 3.75%, deposit 2.75%
9 Nov 2001 main 3.25%, deposit 2.25%
6 Dec 2002 main 2.75%, deposit 1.75%
7 Mar 2003 main 2.50%, deposit 1.50%
6 Jun 2003 main 2.00%, deposit 1.00%
6 Dec 2005 main 2.25%, deposit 1.25%
8 Mar 2006 main 2.50%, deposit 1.50%
15 Jun 2006 main 2.75%, deposit 1.75%
9 Aug 2006 main 3.00%, deposit 2.00%
11 Oct 2006 main 3.25%, deposit 2.25%
13 Dec 2006 main 3.50%, deposit 2.50%
14 Mar 2007 main 3.75%, deposit 2.75%
13 Jun 2007 main 4.00%, deposit 3.00%
9 Jul 2008 main 4.25%, deposit 3.25%
8 Oct 2008 main 4.25%, deposit 2.75%
9 Oct 2008 main 4.25%, deposit 3.25%
15 Oct 2008 main 3.75%, deposit 3.25%
12 Nov 2008 main 3.25%, deposit 2.75%
10 Dec 2008 main 2.50%, deposit 2.00%
21 Jan 2009 main 2.00%, deposit 1.00%
11 Mar 2009 main 1.50%, deposit 0.50%
8 Apr 2009 main 1.25%, deposit 0.25%
13 May 2009 main 1.00%, deposit 0.25%
13 Apr 2011 main 1.25%, deposit 0.50%
13 Jul 2011 main 1.50%, deposit 0.75%
9 Nov 2011 main 1.25%, deposit 0.50%
14 Dec 2011 main 1.00%, deposit 0.25%
11 Jul 2012 main 0.75%, deposit 0.00%
8 May 2013 main 0.50%, deposit 0.00%
13 Nov 2013 main 0.25%, deposit 0.00%
11 Jun 2014 main 0.15%, deposit -0.10%
10 Sep 2014 main 0.05%, deposit -0.20%
9 Dec 2015 main 0.05%, deposit -0.30%
16 Mar 2016 main 0.00%, deposit -0.40%
18 Sep 2019 main 0.00%, deposit -0.50%
27 Jul 2022 main 0.50%, deposit 0.00%
14 Sep 2022 main 1.25%, deposit 0.75%
2 Nov 2022 main 2.00%, deposit 1.50%
21 Dec 2022 main 2.50%, deposit 2.00%
8 Feb 2023 main 3.00%, deposit 2.50%
22 Mar 2023 main 3.50%, deposit 3.00%
10 May 2023 main 3.75%, deposit 3.25%
21 Jun 2023 main 4.00%, deposit 3.50%
2 Aug 2023 main 4.25%, deposit 3.75%
20 Sep 2023 main 4.50%, deposit 4.00%
12 Jun 2024 main 4.25%, deposit 3.75%
18 Sep 2024 main 3.65%, deposit 3.50%
23 Oct 2024 main 3.40%, deposit 3.25%
18 Dec 2024 main 3.15%, deposit 3.00%
5 Feb 2025 main 2.90%, deposit 2.75%
12 Mar 2025 main 2.65%, deposit 2.50%
23 Apr 2025 main 2.40%, deposit 2.25%
11 Jun 2025 main 2.15%, deposit 2.00%
17 Jun 2026 main 2.40%, deposit 2.25%
16 Sep 2026 main 2.65%, deposit 2.50%

How to read this chart. Participants were counted as trade visitors only from 1998 to 2006 and as all participants, trade visitors plus exhibitor staff, from 2007, so the 2006 to 2007 jump is partly a change of definition, not growth. 2020 was cancelled: the gap is a missing edition, not zero. 2002 figures are pre-show registrations. Countries means participant or visitor countries; exhibitor countries are shown only where the source publishes them. Each mood line is taken from that edition's final report or a contemporary press account, in English. The 2026 edition runs 5 to 7 Oct and has no figures yet.

Open calls

18 open calls. Office or Logistics Fund Partner (3) · Head of Office Lending (4) · Office Valuation Director (1) · Capital Markets Partner (3) · Debt Fund Partner (1) · Data Centre Development Director (2) · Head of Data Centre Site Strategy (1) · Head of City Investment (2) · Office or Industrial Investment Partner (1)

Office or Logistics Fund Partner · Europe