Galaxy Investment Group participated in the largest real estate conference in Bulgaria for another year. The event took place on 3.11.2022. in the Sofia Event Center and brought together leading investors, financial institutions, consultants and experts in the sector. In this year's edition, the main market segments in the sector were discussed: office, retail, housing, industry and hotels.
Konstantin Boyadzhiev, CEO of Galaxy Investment Group, participated in the discussion panel on the topic "Investment environment - Bulgaria 2022: prospects for the development of new projects in the real estate sector, capital markets, liquidity, risks and opportunities in the context of sustainable development", where the challenges and prospects facing the companies in the coming year were commented on. Among the leading topics in the discussion were investments in real estate and their attractiveness in view of the change in the monetary environment, the changes of the banking sector and its influence in securing investments for new projects, as well as the factors that shape the current market situation at the end of 2022.
"Currently, many companies are in 'waiting' mode and strategic planning of future investment projects, depending on the segment in which they are investing. Thanks to the diversified portfolio of Galaxy Investment Group, the company can afford to spread the risk, which will allow for expansion with moderate risk investments. There are projects that cannot stop their development. Such are the hotel renovations related to the latest trends for modern amenities and energy efficiency. Currently, the reconstruction of one of our hotel assets – Hilton Sofia, is underway and continues according to plan.
We are an investors who develops projects in various segments – hotel, residential, office, industrial and retail. In our portfolio there are assets with undeniable advantages such as a key location, good infrastructure, leisure spaces, comfortable interior architecture and amenities, which can be successfully implemented even now, as there is a lot of interest from waiting clients for this type of investment. The requirements for the projects are already much greater, and despite the diverse supply on the market and its slight cooling, it can be expected that the demand will continue, but will be redirected to higher quality projects," commented Konstantin Boyadzhiev during the discussion.
According to him, the planning of new investments with a long implementation process is difficult to predict, because despite the stabilizing prices of construction materials, an increase in the price of labor is noted.
Konstantin Boyadzhiev confirmed that the company's city hotels, including Hilton Sofia and InterContinental Sofia, have successfully returned to normal levels of operation. Currently, the challenges in the sector are related to finding a qualified workforce.
Zhivko Ivanov, Asset Management Director at Galaxy Investment Group, took part in the discussion during the second panel of the forum, where he commented on the Hotel Industry in the context of the recovery of market activity. Operating costs, inflation, the labor market, process optimization and competitiveness were just some of the topics covered during the forum.
"2022 is an extremely turbulent year for the hotel market - the first quarter was marked by Covid, with the recovery only starting in mid-March and moving at a different pace in individual segments and markets. Business in Sofia returns relatively quickly to a good pace of events, mainly for the domestic market, business guests and vacationers from European markets. At the moment, Sofia is about 74% from 2019. We are actively working to attract the market for more international events, opening new transport links, improving the product and increasing prices.
I am happy to say that despite the impact of Covid, the company's hotels managed to keep the most important thing - the core of professional staff, which is the basis for the rapid recovery of our sites and for the non-stop list of new achievements - such as the InterContinental Sofia this year received 4 new awards, with which he is already the winner of 23 first places in various international categories in just 4 years. ", commented Zivko Ivanov.