Barbara Topolska
Country Manager
CPI Property Group Polska
Since 2018, at CPIPG, he has been responsible for shaping and supervising the investment strategy in Poland and for managing the retail, office and hotel portfolio on the Polish market. Under her leadership, CPIPG became a leader in the Warsaw office real estate market with 316,000 sqm of space. In 2022, the group acquired a 76.8% stake in IMMOFINANZ, strengthening its leadership position in the office real estate market and significantly strengthening CPIPG share in the retail market. Currently, Barbara Topolska is responsible for 48 properties, with an area of about 750,000 sqm and a value of nearly €2.2 billion. Previously associated with Multi Corporation as Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe and with NEINVER Poland – COO; Prime Property Inc. and Commercial Union (Aviva Group). Graduate of the Jagiellonian University and the University of Chicago. Holder of an MBA degree from the University of Minnesota. Member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and Jury Member of the ICSC Global Awards. As of March 2019, she is a member of the supervisory board of YIT.
Participates in the sessions:
-
Opening session. Challenges for the commercial property market: investment security, financing, and profitability of the property business
The world has changed. People have changed. The property business must change as well. How to prepare the prop-erty business for a new future and new geopolitical, economic, social, environmental, and technological challenges? A risk map: What is a matter of the utmost concern to the sector? Strategies for tough times. New opportunities. And this is what we will ask key investors, developers and experts about:
Investment security:
- The ongoing war in Ukraine across our eastern border affects investment decisions being made by property players – global corporations, manufacturing companies, or investment funds. Uncertainty among investors, who have adopted a wait-and-see strategy, is one of the most noticeable effects of Russian aggression in the property market. How has the investment attractiveness of Poland changed in the eyes of investors? Is the invested capital safe? The end of the war, stable law, predictable taxes, and investment incentives: What does it take for Poland to remain a magnet for new investments?
Debt is getting increasingly expensive:
- Banks are cautious about financing commercial property. Nowadays, it is more difficult to get a loan for an office building. Are hotels and shopping centres doomed? Warehouses are still the jewel in the crown, but there are requirements too. How is the policy pursued by institutions providing funding for property chang-ing? Will the high cost of money result in fewer new investments?
Property is (not) profitable. The profitability of the property business:
- Double-digit inflation, interest rate hikes, the rising costs of building materials and labour, and rising energy prices… How have recent events changed the profitability of property investments? Strong warehouses; battered hotels and shopping centres; office buildings waiting for the end of remote working, and flats chas-ing record after record: Which sectors are at their best today? What attracts investors’ attention?
