Up until recently though, no one had ever even heard of Cape Verde or had any idea where it was. Now, with promises of serious capital appreciation over the coming years, Cape Verde is one of the most talked about locations on the map.

Background Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)
Cape Verde is an African country made up of ten main islands and five islets. It’s located off the west coast of Senegal. It shares a relatively similar geographical position to the Emerald Isle – in the Atlantic Ocean at the most westerly point of the continent. Maybe this is part of the attraction to the Irish.

The climate however is a slightly different. Unlike Ireland, where it rains even when it’s not raining and is cloudy even when it’s sunny, On Cape Verde, it’s permanent summer with endless blue skies every day of the year. This I’d imagine, is the real attraction for the Irish.

Cape Verde’s Rental Potential
Cape Verde’s future lies in tourism and to a large extent, so does the success of its property market.

The government knows this and is keen to make sure that the figures keep on rising. Over the past four years, they’ve seen the number of visitors increase by 25%.

The goal is to see “annual tourism figures double to over 500,000 by 2015”, according to Dominic McGlynn of Sambala Developments.

Tourism (or lack of) can have a massive impact on the property market. In Cape Verde’s case it drives the rental market and is the backbone for most buy-to-let investments.

Year-round sunshine means that investors can rent out their properties all year long at tourist prices. With better accessibility and an increasing amount of visitors every year it’s unlikely that there’ll be any periods where the property is left vacant.

Good rental potential is paramount for any buy-to-let investment. Cape Verde’s climate and healthy tourism industry provide investors with a huge degree of stability. They’re both key factors – assuring buyers of Cape Verde’s solidity as a profitable investment location.

Property Appreciation
This is the key to investment security – whether or not you’re property will go up in value and on Cape Verde it’s almost guaranteed. On some of the larger developments prices have already “increased to the tune of approximately 30%”.

According to Maria Rosario de Luz, the adviser to Cape Verde’s minister for economic growth, the Government “permit only low-rise development and promote eco-tourism and its own lively Creole culture”.

On Cape Verde, the government intends to restrict the construction of new developments. They don’t want the overdevelopment problems Spain and various other markets have had recently.

Investors who get in at the beginning will be in a “win-win” situation. With a bigger demand for properties than the amount available, they can sit back and watch their properties go up in value.

The Main Players
Apart from the Irish, who certainly seem to have an eye for a bargain, the English are also swooning over Cape Verde. Although not as accessible as the Canaries, to the north, Cape Verde’s charm seems to have won them over. More recently, the Germans and other investors from the Nordic regions have discovered Cape Verde.

So it’s not just the Irish. Everyone seems to pouring money into this tiny, once unheard of, chain of Islands.

For recent investors, this is very reassuring – seeing the property market flourish and the infrastructure develop. For would be investors, this is a sign that it’s now time to make a move!, before property values hit the roof.

Despite being an African country, Cape Verde has a culture, landscape and atmosphere quite unlike anything on the mainland. It’s also widely regarded as 2007’s most lucrative emerging markets.

Economic Boom
According to MacauHub, in 2006 Cape Verde’s economy grew by the highest rate in almost 10 years – 10.8%.

The Cape Verdean government had only expected a growth rate of between 6 and 7% so were pleasantly surprised. Tourism was of course largely responsible for this growth. Jose Maria Neves, Cape Verde’s prime minister calls it the “main engine” driving the economy.

With year round sunshine and a climate slightly hotter and more consistent than the Canary Islands, Cape Verde is a perfect beach holiday destination right throughout the year. It’s no wonder sun-starved Northern Europeans are keeping a keen eye on it.

The property market is booming – Investors and homebuyers are taking full advantage of the island’s excellent value for money properties.

Background
Cape Verde is an African country located off the west coast of Senegal. It consists of 10 main islands and about 8 islets.

This fascinating archipelago boasts some stark contrasts in landscape. It’s home to fierce volcanic landscapes, endless white sandy beaches, lush green forests and vast deserts.

In Cape Verde’s northern islands, Crioulo is the spoken dialect. In the south, they speak Krioulo. One of the recent issues facing the government is the amount of variations of these dialects that are spoken – sometimes up to nine within each individual island. Ever since their independence from Portugal in 1951, there’s been a call for one or possibly two standard languages.

For the moment though, visitors will hear a variation of colonial-era Portuguese with the occasional English or West African words thrown in.

Although Cape Verde is an African country, it’s distinctly different from any of the other countries on the mainland. Cape Verdeans have their own language(s), traditions and music (known as Morna). Most countries in Western Africa are a mixture of Islam and Animism. On Cape Verde, the majority are Catholic Mestizos.

Located so close to Europe, Cape Verdeans have a very broad-minded and European outlook on life.

Cape Verde is often called the “new Canary Islands” as they’re very similar in terms of both landscape and climate. And like the Canaries, there’s a vast degree of difference between each of the individual islands.

They’re also being called the new Canary Islands because agents and developers are selling them as the latest holiday hot spot and this year’s most lucrative investment location – which to a large extent, they are.

As of yet, Cape Verde remains untouched – a natural paradise with an easy way of life, low cost of living, high quality of life and some very affordable properties. Whether or not mass tourism and (perhaps) overdevelopment will happen here like in Spain is hard to say.

It’s hard to categorize Cape Verde. It’s a mixture of African, Brazilian and European yet at the same time it’s completely different from its neighbours. It’s a fascinating and at the same time bewildering country – staggering beautiful and full of exotic charm.

Property For Sale in Cape Verde
Prices are still very low, especially when compared to some of the more established tourist resorts like the Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal.

Here are a few examples of what you’re likely to find online…

Studio, Sal Island
Sale Type: Off Plan
Price: £ 47,894

Studio Apartment, Santa Maria Island
Type: Studio
Sale Type: Off Plan
Price: £ 45,449

Studio, Salinas Sand, Sal Island
Type: Apartment/Condo
Sale Type: Off Plan
Price: £ 46,413
Local price: Esc 7,557,243

Cape Verde’s Future
The hype is phenomenal. It’s been hailed as the “new Canaries”, “Barbados without the jet-lag” the “Caribbean on the cheap” and countless others.

Although mass tourism can bring with it various problems like overdevelopment and crime etc, most agree that the positive impact of tourism on Cape Verde will be largely beneficial.

Through tourism, this once impoverished third world country will see increased employment a better standard of living and should eventually become a much wealthier nation.

“Why would they want to come here? All we have is sun and beaches” one minister is said to have exclaimed when shown plans for a huge coastal development on Santiago.

It didn’t take long, however, to convince the government that this is exactly what sun-staved Europeans wanted – sun and beaches. Once convinced, the government opened their arms to foreign investors and began throwing money into the islands’ infrastructure and development.

Cape Verde offers something more than your traditional retirement destination, like say the Costa del Sol or the south of France. This is Africa – a land of adventure, mystery, intrigue and unmistakably charm.

Background (Cape Verde Islands)
Located in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Senegal (Africa) Cape Verde is an African country made up of 10 idyllic tropical islands. It’s just over one hour south of the Canary Islands.

The people living on Cape Verde are a mixture of African, Portuguese and Brazilian. Portuguese is the official language but many Cape Verdeans speak crioulo – a local dialect. Most of the people in Cape Verde are Catholic.

Initially it was the Italians who were first attracted to this windswept archipelago. Along with UK and Irish buy-to-let investors, they’ve played a significant part in boosting the country’s economy and infrastructure.

Cape Verde is the closest tropical paradise to Europe. It only takes five-and-a-half hours to fly here direct from the UK, whereas places like Barbados in the Caribbean will take at least 12 hours.

Last year, Astraeus Airlines commenced direct flights from Gatwick and Manchester to Cape Verde. They fly once a week.

Investing In Cape Verde
Initially, it was just big investors buying here – often buying in bulk, sometimes up to 10 apartments or more.

Nowadays, Cape Verde attracts a growing number of buyers looking for holiday homes – places they can use themselves for a couple of weeks in the winter and rent out the rest of the year. Unlike Spain and the Canary Islands, there are still not that many UK buyers looking to set up permanent residence in Cape Verde. Not yet…

A lot of the developments in Cape Verde are still under construction. There are only a few that are actually finished. Developers are confident that with a price increase of 18 per cent last year, buyers will be keen to get in quick.

Now is the best time to invest in Cape Verde. If not now, very soon. It’s still an emerging market with low prices, but as can be seen from the increase in property values, it won’t be cheap for much longer.

At the moment, the starting price for an apartment is as low as £30,000. You won’t find this on Tenerife! For a six-bedroom villa, with six bathrooms and a pool, expect to pay less than £350,000.

Why Cape Verde
Firstly it’s politically stable and relatively crime free. It’s also largely efficient and technologically advanced, with a very promising economic outlook.

One of Cape Verde’s biggest attractions for UK buyers and holidaymakers is its close proximity – a tropical paradise on your doorstep.

The climate too, a major factor. The weather on Cape Verde is similar to the Canaries, yet slightly hotter and more consistent. It has a perfect beach climate all throughout the year, making it ideal for sun-worshipers and buy-to-let investors.

Cape Verde is widely regarded as 2007’s most promising emerging market. Anyone who buys now will be getting in at the right time and should reap the benefits of the sharp increase in property values in years to come.

With all the money being pumped into the islands’ infrastructure and tourism industry, property price increases are almost guaranteed.