Organizers of the region’s largest property fair, Central Europe Property and Investment Fair (CEPIF), have pulled the plug on this year’s meeting, blaming difficult market conditions.

“While taking the decision to cancel CEPIF, we particularly took into consideration [the position of] all the exhibitors cooperating with us. As specialists on the real estate market, we know very well that for many of them participation in such a big event in 2009 is not possible,” said Magdalena Serwatko, president of the board at property consultants redNet Media, the main organizer of the Warsaw-based fair.

“However, for many companies, the cancellation of CEPIF is not a big surprise, since everyone is very cautious in planning budgets for the next few months,” she added.

The two-day CEPIF held in May 2008 played host to 3,600 exhibitors from almost 90 countries. According to Serwatko, the success of last year’s fair had led organizers to initially believe that the 2009 gathering would be even more successful.

Serwatko stressed that despite the demise of the 2009 fair, the company’s priority is to run CEPIF fairs in the upcoming years, however, this would depend on the market situation.