The suited, brogued and shaded of the property industry arrived in Cannes this week to a very different Mipim

鈥淚 would say there are 30% less people here than the last few years,鈥� said John Caine, London director of Curtins Consulting, before putting a brave face on things: 鈥淧eople are a bit subdued but the warm weather is making us more optimistic by the day.鈥�

Perhaps the clearest indication of the smaller turnout was the ease with which attendees could get served in Cannes鈥� bars and cafes. 鈥淲hen you can grab a coffee at Cafe Roma without having to wait around for a table you know it鈥檚 going to be a quieter year ,鈥� said Regis Jacquemin of King Sturge, as the event got under way on Tuesday morning.

But the quiet nature of Mipim 2009 wasn鈥檛 necessarily viewed as a bad thing. As Joe Giordano of property consultant Devsol said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good environment for doing business because all the key people are still here 鈥� it鈥檚 just easier to get to them.鈥�

Alex Davey, a partner at Davis Langdon, agreed: 鈥淚 have been here for 24 hours and it鈥檚 already been much more useful than the past three years.鈥�

So it seems that small can be beautiful. As Tony Williams, chairman of property consultant Watts Group, put it: 鈥淎lthough we鈥檙e having fewer conversations, the quality of conversations we鈥檙e having is better.鈥�