Football focusing world on Brazil

By Jane Slade
Posted: 2010/04/14

The first World Cup match is yet to kick off in South Africa but property investors are already shifting their sights to Brazil, the host nation for the 2014 World Cup, says JANE SLADE

SOMEWHAT surprisingly, perhaps, three cities in north-east Brazil (Fortaleza, Recife and Natal) will host international football matches when the country welcomes fans to the next World Cup in four years' time.

Building has been ferocious in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, which may not boast the fizz and sizzle of Rio and São Paolo further south but has some spectacular beaches and air so pure it is a favourite spot for stargazing.

About £144million has been committed to improving the infrastructure so there will be better road and rail networks connecting to the new São Gonçalo do Amarante airport by the time the first whistle is blown.

With property prices still 20 per cent lower than in Europe, confidence is growing but experts are warning buyers to be cautious of buying property off-plan. Samantha Gore of Brazil real estate agents UV10 says:

"The financial reward of off-plan purchases for holiday homes often fails to stack up these days.

"In between handing over a sizeable amount of cash based on computer-generated plans and the property actually being completed 'x' months or years later, the value of your unit could have stayed the same or even dropped."

Also promises get broken, developers go bust and if you haven't ensured your deposit is held in an escrow account your down payment could be lost, too. Buying a property that is complete or near-complete is the way forward.

While Brazil is a beautiful and exotic country it does not foster a culture of preserving spaces for natural beauty. The alarming deforestation of the Amazon rainforest proves this but it is gradually learning the value of conservation.

"Pipa, on Brazil's favourite north-east coastline, employs strict conservation laws that limit construction in the area, " assures Samantha, whose company only markets projects that are complete or near complete.

"You need to look at what's already built in order to get the best homes.

"With completed properties, buyers can judge tangibly the quality of the finish, which is important as in the case of off-plan every developer claims to offer a 'high specification luxury product', while in reality, a fraction actually do."

A complete scheme is Pipa Beleza; a boutique collection of apartments, penthouses and villas with an array of on-site facilities including a Thai-style spa, meditation garden, relaxing pools, champagne gazebo and fusion restaurant.

A two-bedroomed 66 square metre apartment with private garden is for sale for £97,400.

Several resales are also available including a furnished two-bedroomed, two-bath 85 sq m penthouse with sea views and rooftop hot tub for £130,500. Villas cost from £595,000 for a three-bed with a roof terrace and garden.

A separate collection of 22 villas is in the process of completion, designed around a 300m lagoon-style pool high on a plateau with access to two beaches. Here, 15 two- and three-bedroomed properties at Domus Villas are available starting from £220,000.

Frederico Araujo, a partner in Rio estate agency Judice & Araujo Imóveis, an affiliate of Christie's Great Estates, assures investors that the recent mudslides in Rio will not affect the property market in the north. "This was a natural disaster exacerbated by the poor quality of the drain system in Rio, " he says.

"These floods happen quite often in Rio, São Paolo and Salvador. Most of the landslides occur in very poor areas so don't impact on the main residential zones in the cities. However, infrastructure will need to be improved in time for the World Cup."

MORE INFORMATION:
UV10 has full rental management and hotel services in place for most of its projects so you can "try before you buy".
For more details on Domus Villas and Pipa Beleza visit uv10.com, or call 0845 643 1036.

For more schemes in Brazil visit: Brazil-realestate.co.uk, freephone 0800 612 0901. propertyfrontiers.com, 01865 202 700.