Cape Verde Property - the new Canary Islands?

Don’t believe those brochures portraying Cape Verde as the new Canary Islands - well not at least for 5 years …

Apartment blocks are going up everywhere you look in Santa Maria on the island of Sal, the most advertised of the Cape Verde Islands. Hardly any villas, just block after block of apartments.

The pictures in the sales brochures and the property shops are of wonderful looking complexes, but they  show the proposed finished complexes with lovely gardens and surrounding areas with lots of grass and trees. 

Water, water everywhere …

How they propose to make the gardens grow is difficult to ascertain, as they do not have any natural water on the island, and it never rains (all the water is taken from the sea and processed through one de-salination plant).

Electricity is currently supplied by diesel run generators.

Investors take note …

Many investors are looking to buy off-plan with the hope that the island projects will be completed within the next 3 years and their investment will have increased in value greatly during that time.

There is a lot of high pressure selling going on with inspection trips being arranged in the UK. Once the prospective clients arrive, they are ferried around on a daily basis to different developments and different islands. At the end of the trip they receive the usual closing speech, the pitch being “as the islands are in the early stages of development, it is now a good time to buy as the prices are low and when it is fully developed in 3 years time the property will have doubled in price”.

I spoke to one developer on the island who openly admitted that it would take 3 years to put in the services supply, build the harbour and possibly start the first phase of the complex.

Clear Title

There could also be an issue with the title of the land.  Some of the developments are on small parcels of land purchased from individuals and it is possible that the titles may not be clear. If you are considering buying, this is definitely something to look out for or insure against.

Caveat Emptor

Ultimately you have to make your own assessment, but personally I would not advise anyone to purchase at this time unless you are prepared for a long wait.  You must have the finances to support it as the developers ask for stage payments so you are paying from the day you sign the contract.

Note: Cape Verde was visited by one of our team members - to read her full report see Cape Verde