Baku hosted the first international real estate exhibition AIREX 2026

The first international real estate exhibition held in Baku

Baku hosted the first international real estate exhibition, AIREX 2026, which brought together developers and investors from the region against the backdrop of Azerbaijan's large-scale urban expansion and the reconstruction of Karabakh. The exhibition's organizer, Riad Salaev, told Euronews that the goal is to attract “more key players from the region” and “more international participants and investors.” The exhibition took place amid major changes in Baku itself and growing demand for new housing and infrastructure in Karabakh.

Preferential housing: figures from the MIDA agency

Jamshid Amirov, head of the staff of the State Housing Development Agency of Azerbaijan (MIDA), said that the agency has launched 20 projects for purchasing housing on preferential terms: seven in Baku, three in Karabakh and ten in other regions. According to him, 11 affordable housing projects have already been completed — five in Baku and six in the regions, three more are being implemented, and three residential complexes are in the design stage. The projects include schools, kindergartens and a medical center.

Technology and planning

Participants linked the future of the sector to technology. Elchin Gadimov of PASHA Real Estate Group noted that the industry is moving toward “capital efficiency, customer experience, international demand and long-term asset value” and is becoming increasingly “data-driven, predictive and customer-oriented”: with the help of AI, a project can be visualized from a simple photograph in minutes rather than with expensive rendering. Marcelina Zielinska, director at the international architecture practice Chapman Taylor, whose company worked on the master plans of Shusha and Jabrayil, as well as the districts of Aghdam and Fuzuli (including a hospital and a vocational school in Fuzuli), emphasized that planners need to take into account “business, economics, location, climate and community.” Alikhan Aliyev of Kazakhstan's BI Group named “architecture, comfort, safety and the quality of life of residents” as priorities.

Foreign participants and digital services

The exhibition showed how foreign players view the regional market. Tariq Imam, founder of Kinglike Luxury (Georgia, Turkey), called Baku “an emerging destination for international real estate investment.” Georgia's Silk Development saw AIREX as an opportunity to “strengthen regional partnerships.” The Maldives presented not residential but tourism projects: a cruise terminal and a coastal commercial district in Hulhumale and the Kudagiri Falhu tourism zone. In Azerbaijan's Sea Breeze, the company Digital Residence is developing a model with AI services and smart building management; its CEO Denis Rudnik spoke about the next step — the IT Hub Sea Breeze for international tech companies and startups — and mentioned state support, including “20-year tax exemptions for eligible residents of technology parks.”