Kick-Off!The Impact On The Real Estate Market In Poland And Ukraine Due To The European Soccer Championships In 2012

Poland and Ukraine have an outstanding opportunity: hosting the European soccer championships is surely going to prove a real challenge for the Polish and Ukrainian economy and until 2012 it could mean unprecedented prosperity. Thousands of new jobs will appear in the building market, services, trade, tourism and other sectors. Along with rapid economic growth, salaries will go up and unemployment will fall. Investors rushed to buy shares in companies that might benefit from organizing Euro 2012. The Warsaw Stock Exchange's WIG index easily passed the 60,000-point mark, setting a new record. Euro 2012 will have an enormous influence on the real estate market in Poland and Ukraine. Numerous new facilities will appear, such as hotels and stadiums. After the UEFA selected Poland to co-host Euro 2012, investors announced plans to build almost 220 new hotels. Poland will also spend over 2 billion euros alone on building new stadiums in GdaÒsk, Warsaw and Wrocaw, facilities in other cities will be modernized. A rise in building costs is therefore inevitable which makes prices of apartments rise furthermore. There will also be major impact on the infrastructure: the need for an urgent improvement of the transport infrastructure will enforce changes and the acceleration of investments in that field, especially for the construction of the A4 motorway ñ the section to the Ukrainian border. Until 2012, Poland will gain more than 600 km of freeways. 2,200 km of expressways will be built or modernized as well as over 1,500 km of railway tracks. 12 local airports are also certain to be enlarged and a second terminal at Warsaw Ok_cie airport will be opened to serve up to 8 million passengers a year. From the economic point of view, Poland and Ukraine are the perfect choice not only because both countries are developing faster than most of the Western European countries. Winning the right to host the Euro 2012 soccer championships is set to stimulate development in Poland and Ukraine even more.