Cape Verde &Investing in the Cape Verde Islands 31 Oct 2007 04:17 am
From the Emerald Isle to the Green Cape
Cape Verde is this year’s most talked about investment location. It’s drawing in more and more tourists every year; developers and investors are making a killing – the Irish in particular. Up until just a few years no one had even heard of Cape Verde or had any idea where it was.
Cape Verde (The Green Cape)
Cape Verde is a small African country located in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Senegal (Africa). In some respects, it’s similar to Ireland – separated from the continent, alone in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Maybe this is why the Irish find it so appealing.
In terms of climate however, the two couldn’t be more different. Whereas in Ireland, it rains even when it’s sunny (which is never), Cape Verde is blessed with endless blue skies all throughout the year. This, more so than its Atlantic location, is probably the real attraction, along with the beaches and the affordable properties.
Temperatures range from a minimum nighttime average of 19°C in February to a maximum daytime average of 29°C from May to November. Cape Verde is on the same latitude as Barbados and is just a few degrees warmer than the Canaries.
Cape Verde is known for its amazing beaches – endless stretches of fine white sand with clean and clear warm blue waters all year round – a true beach lover’s paradise. It’s a land of fantastic contrasts; from its imposing volcanic peaks and lush green vegetation to its surreal lunar-like desert landscapes.
All the islands are vastly different from each other; each with its own landscape, climate, dialect, character and individual charm.
Sal, Santiago and Boa Vista is where most of the development is taking place at the moment. Sao Nicolau, Maio and Sao Vicente look set to follow.
An Investment in Paradise
Cape Verde is ideal for anyone looking for a pure investment. It’s still a virgin market with excellent potential both through property appreciation and buy-to-let investing.
For developers it’s like a blank canvas – plenty of quality locations to build and labour is very cheap. Investors and homebuyers can take advantage of the excellent value for money properties.
The Irish realized Cape Verde’s potential a few years back. Tom Sheehy, a furniture supplier from Cork, has been buying up plots and selling to mainly UK customers for a number of years now. There’s no shortage of buyers – he describes Cape Verde’s growth rate as simply “phenomenal”.
From an investment point of view, Cape Verde has much more to offer than the traditional tourist hot-spots like Spain, the Canaries, Portugal and France etc.
Cape Verde’s Rental Potential
Cape Verde’s future economic growth is heavily reliant on tourism. And with the number of visitors increasing by 25% over the past four years, the outlook looks very promising. The government is very keen to ensure these figures keep rising and are going out of their way to improve the islands’ infrastructure.
Cape Verde’s tourism industry drives the rental market and is the backbone for most buy-to-let investments. This is one of the major attractions for investors – the ability to gain rental income all year long.
Property Appreciation on the Islands
Some of the larger developments in Cape Verde have already increased in value by up to 30%. Property appreciation is the key to investment security and on Cape Verde it’s just about guaranteed.
The government aim to restrict construction in order to avoid the overdevelopment problems other holiday destinations, like Spain, now have. With a limited amount of properties for sale and a huge demand for them, investors can benefit from simple economics – demand exceeding supply = increase in property values.