Home > Blogs > Max Growth English Fever – here are the headlines for property investors Savvy property investors have always had the ability to see beyond the hype and read between the lines. Cape Verde looks like a challenge for the best. The Financial Times supplement this week on Cape Verde was packed with ads of smiling government officials encouraging investment and a general editorial tone of modest recognition that these islands have tourism and, er, that’s pretty much it. For any property investor looking at Cape Verde, let the Bulgarian coast be a warning. Why? Let’s look at what the FT reported about Cape Verde. Here are some telling quotes straight from the property piece in the FT’s special report. Headline: Crowded by coast lined with construction cranes. ‘People in Cape Verde's real estate business call it "the English fever", and can trace the exact moment when it first took hold. ‘It all started in February 2005 when the UK Channel 4 television series A Place in the Sun , a lifestyle programme about property-buying, identified the archipelago as one of the new holiday-home opportunities.’ Caribbean-style paradise? Here’s another, ‘Some visiting buyers in Cape Verde are disconcerted to find a reality that does not correspond to their visions of a Caribbean-style paradise. Services are still rickety, and popular areas such as Santa Maria on Sal island, famed for its gorgeous beach and turquoise waters, bristle with builders' cranes. ‘It's not the finished article by any means," admits Adrian Lillywhite, managing director of Cape Verde Property, a specialist British agency. At the same time, prices are higher than in some other winter sun destinations such as Egypt. Land values have increased since the property rush began. ‘Fourteen holiday villages are planned here, with hotels, shops, services and two 18-hole golf courses. The first phase of 450 flats and houses has been fully sold, as well as most of a second phase, nearly all to British buyers and the majority with a view to letting.' Sambala is a resort being developed on the biggest island of Santiago. Piran Johnson is the general manager at the Sambala office in the capital. Back to the FT: ‘Mr Johnson reports strong demand for letting schemes, which count on the prospect of sufficient inflows of holidaymaking tenants. Future phases, he says, will have lower-density housing, moving further upmarket. ‘In the beginning it will be a case of getting the numbers in.’ Deja Vu? Isn’t this all alarmingly reminiscent of the Bulgarian coastal market? And we all know what happened there – hundreds of UK investors – among others – bought off plan from agents on big commissions after listening to promises of huge capital growth. And the result? Huge over-supply. Very little rental market and pretty much zero resale market, largely because the agents have no incentive to sell on the secondary market when they can earn whacking commissions selling off-plan. What we picked up at the Munich Expo, and reported in this blog, is that while the Brits have pretty much stopped buying on the beach in Bulgaria, the market is as busy as ever. The Brit buyers fell off, and along came the Irish and Spanish. Now it’s the turn of the Russians and even the Romanians coming down the coast and buying as well. Here’s what we said about the Bulgarian coastal market Don’t Get Burnt In Bulgaria. In my view there’s at least a fair bet we’ll be saying the same about Cape Verde before long! POSTED BY ROBIN BOWMAN ON THU 15TH NOVEMBER AT 17:11 GMT TAGS: Cape Verde Property, Bulgaria Property [ Back To Blog Home ]

CONTRIBUTORS Neil Lewis Robin Bowman Ben Greenwood Noreen Lucey Stanislaw Staromlynski Brett Tudor Panos Tsigaras First Name Last Name Email  BLOG POSTS Aug 2008 Jul 2008 Jun 2008 May 2008 Apr 2008 Mar 2008 Feb 2008 Jan 2008 Dec 2007 Nov 2007 The Danger of Investing in Cheap Property Winslow Gardens creating a stir in the fog English Fever – here are the headlines for property investors Getting rich (at least fairly) quick – where in the world are the property buying middle classes being created the fastest? Immigration is back on the political agenda – will it push some UK cities back into the Max Growth club? Oct 2007 Sep 2007 Aug 2007 Jul 2007  DISCUSS Comment On Blog Post  BOOKMARK THIS Del.icio.us Stumble It! Digg This Facebook Reddit

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