Property Exhibitions are expensive. Why does that matter? Because it is costing you money!

property exhibition costs

According to a recent report published by Soho Overseas Property Intelligence about property exhibitions in Hong Kong there, were 913 property exhibitions held in Hong Kong between January and August 2020. These figures will be surprising to many and are set out below.

YearN# of Property ExhibitionsN# of Projects PromotedN# of CitiesN# of CountriesN# of Agents
2019984365572185
20209133654413128
Hong Kong Exhibitions 2019 & 2020

But how much does a property exhibition cost? And as an investor, why should you even care?

Let me start by telling you how much a property exhibition costs to hold. Property exhibitions tend to have three key cost elements, I have set out below based on my experience the cost of holding a 3 day property exhibition in a central Hong Kong hotel.

Cost 1: Hire of the hotel or event space

A Property Exhibition - Hong Kong.
Property Exhibition in Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental

The cost of actually hiring the space for the event is high. Exhibitions tend to take place in 5* hotels such as the Mandarin Oriental, The Four Seasons and The Langham. As you might expect, these hotels are not cheap! And on top of that, the room needs to be set up with the lightboxes and model, which also adds to the cost. Because Agents have to try to get as many potential investors to the exhibition room as possible, these hotels tend to be in city centre locations for ease of access and to capture people whilst they are out shopping or having lunch.

Room CostUSD 95,000
Set Up HireUSD 5,000
Total CostUSD 100,000

Cost 2: Point of sale materials

Costs to produce sales materials for event, together with of setting up costs.

Scale Model of Developmentc USD 80,000 (but the sky is the limit!)
Brochure & PrintingUSD 8,000 – USD 10,000
Model Shipping & InstallationUSD 6,500
Light box rental, set up and on the ground logisticsUSD 6,500
Light box panel printingUSD 3,000
Shipping MaterialsUSD 1,500
Total CostUSD 105,000 +

Cost 3: Advertising & promoting a Property Exhibition

Costs associated with promoting the event in media and to databases of investors.

Design layout and production 100,000 postal invitationsUSD 4,000
Postal invitation cardsUSD 12,500
Advertising (Press & Digital)USD 50,000 – USD 100,000 +
Total CostUSD 100,000 +

So for an investor, what is the cost per sale?

To put it another way, how much does it cost you to buy a property at an exhibition? In reality a surprisingly small number of properties are actually sold at property exhibitions – it’s probably an average around 10. The reason you should care about this, is because as a property investor, the cost is ultimately borne by YOU.

N# of SalesCost per Sale (USD)
1300,000
2150,000
3100,000
475,000
560,000
650,000
742,850
837,500
933,333
1030,000

Why should you even care?

Why should you even care? Because if you are thinking about buying property off plan and are considering buying at a property exhibition it is you who will foot the bill! Read our recent post The Truth about Property Exhibitions to find out more.


UK property market report - go to reading for property investors
Read our latest market update here