Brazil
134% increase in visitors to Brazil since 2004
Figures from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) show that in 2008, Brazil’s tourism industry rose to 13th position in the world in terms of the economic activity it generates.
Hard hats and high heels
Men are from Mars women are from Venus, we all know that, so it follows suit that residential developers across the gender divide have slightly different priorities.
A Brazilian try before you buy
“Which country; which property; is it a fair price; is my estate agent telling the truth?” Buying overseas creates enough headaches to make anyone want to pack it all in and go on holiday.
How to play Brazil’s emerging property market
Brazil is a vast country boasting 7,400km of coastline so buyer beware that you don’t end up on an isolated beachfront with no nearby shops and restaurants. Or worse still, no subsequent end-users to sell on to or provide you with rental income.
Pents back on market at Brazil’s Pipa Beleza
At a development launch prime units sell quickly to the early birds and in the case of the boutique resort of Pipa Beleza that meant the penthouses. With sunny rooftop solarium and optional Jacuzzi from which to soak up the sunsets, these two bedroom duplex units literally raced off the plans.
Natal - The true meaning of Christmas
The winter property season tends to focus on ski property - apartments and chalets in popular resorts which cost an arm and possibly even a leg if you misjudge a black run. However, if the only part of chucking yourself down a mountain in the freezing cold that appeals is the promise of a drink in the bar afterwards, there’s an infinitely warmer festive property alternative.
Weak Brazil currency makes property affordable
Exchange rates haven’t been very kind to Brits over the past few months. The pound is weaker than ever against the euro (just 1.25€/£) making that holiday home in Euroland all the more expensive whilst even the dollar has rallied back up to 1.57$US/£ so we can no longer enjoy two-dollar-for-the-price-of-one shopping along Fifth Avenue.
Pipa Natura – Completed property with off-plan payment terms
Off-plan property may suit the bold and the brave but for some it’s just nice to get down to brass tacks and sign-up for a home that’s built and ready to go. No surprises, no waiting and no need for a vivid imagination.
Beachfront Brazilian mansion property
A sprawling mansion hugging a tropical beach is the stuff property dreams are made of. Fantasise no more. For less than 175,000 euros you can have this mansion, well one of the 11 homes within it, fronting the paradisiacal beaches of Tibau do Sul close to Pipa, Natal, on Brazil’s northeastern coastline.
Learning Portuguese and living with the locals
Brazil is delicately balancing the tightrope between actively encouraging more tourists and becoming overly ‘touristy’. The adoption of a ‘less is more’ approach is proving to be the key to success allowing the beaches, climate, cuisine and inspirational locals to speak for themselves.
Weakening Real makes Brazilian property even more affordable
The Brazilian property market is already riding the crest of a boom, but now even the currency is co-operating with the news that the Real has weakened by over 8% against the dollar in the last month alone. This makes that beautiful beach property even more affordable than ever.
Full house in Brazil
Few would argue that Pipa Beach is northeast Brazil’s pick of the bunch, but some would prefer to set their sights higher than a pocket-money priced off-plan apartment and take the plunge on a key-ready, private luxury villa – and at little over 200,000 pounds for three spacious bedrooms and glorious sea views, why not?
Brazil’s Quinta da Lagoa - Seriously good property for a serious buyer
Talk is cheap. It’s incredibly easy to say “rental returns will be high” but difficult to deliver. When London-based Gilles Acogny, 47, a seasoned investor with a portfolio of property stretching across France, Senegal and the UK, was deciding his next move he wanted to be sure of the credentials of the development he was throwing his hard-earned pennies into… Brazil’s Quinta da Lagoa passed muster.
Brazilian property at distinctly retro prices
Property prices have rocketed in Brazil over recent years and if investors could turn the clock back 18 months, knowing then what they do now, they would have snapped up several prime units and be feeling pretty smug today.
Credit crunch gets lost in translation for Brazil
For Brazil the credit crunch may just as well be the fabled breakfast cereal. Whilst the London stock market shrank by 1.5% during 2007, its São Paulo counterpart expanded by 93% due to a flood of foreign investment, a sizeable chunk of which went into real estate. Even Goldman Sachs has had to admit that they got it ‘wrong’.