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Property progress in Portuguese

7th May 2008 | back to article listings BACK    print this article PRINT

There is supposed to be a credit crunch going on, but some parts of the world, it seems, are not getting the message. While Spain has outlined a major rescue plan in a bid to boost its property industry, the Lusophone countries seem to be attracting the big buyers.

El Pais has stated that the Spain's new housing minister, Beatriz Corredor, has come up with a plan to boost the property renovation sector. This will afford it an increase in tax relief from 15 per cent to 20 per cent, as well as grants to carry out work on improving town centres. One of the stated aims of the plan, which she is to present to economy minister Pedro Solbes, is to encourage the buy-to-let sector. So if Mr Solbes adopts the plan, it may be well worthy watching to see how this affects the Spanish property market, including the buy-to-let sector.

While that is going on, however, Portugal and its former colony Cape Verde seem to have no major problems to overcome at the moment. It is not just the question of falling prices and the end of a boom period. Expensive investments appear to be popular in both countries.

In the case of Portugal, this has been noted by Nick Fullerton, managing director of FC Exchange. He told aboutproperty.co.uk that the recent fluctuations in the value of the euro have helped make Portugal popular for top-end investors, who have started to choose the country ahead of the south of France for their property investment due to lower property prices and also the lower cost of living.

He said: "We are seeing a distinct shift in the number of people choosing Portugal rather than France for property over €750,000 (£591,000)."

But it is not just Portugal but also its former colony that is picking up the big-money buyers. According to Wales on Sunday, it is reported that former Welsh rugby captain Colin Charvis has picked up a property on Cape Verde. While refusing to confirm the sale, the managing director of Cape Verde Property, Adrian Lillywhite, told the paper: "I believe one of the main reasons people are attracted to Cape Verde is the fantastic white sandy beaches and beautiful turquoise sea."

He added: "Boa Vista certainly has some of the best beaches in the world. It will definitely open up for tourism, and then the property market has every opportunity to boom."

If it turns out that sports stars are adding to their portfolios in such countries, then the chances that locations such as Cape Verde will need a Spanish-style rescue package to set a recovery in motion may be rather slim.

This is a press release by Assetz also available at http://press.assetz.co.uk/articles/4168.html. Alternatively, please see our full press release archive.

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