Luxury homes on Cape Verde

Construction work is getting underway on a new luxurious world-class five-star resort on Ponta Preta Beach on the west coast of Sal Island in Cape Verde where the developer confidently is predicting that investors who buy properties off-plan can expect to achieve an annual capital growth of up to nine per cent for the next five years and rental yields of 13 per cent and, on some properties, as high as 22 per cent.

The flagship development by The Resort Group Plc follows the success of the group’s first scheme on the island, the nearby Tortuga Beach Resort and Spa in which all but a handful of the 372 properties have been sold, most of them off-plan. The Tortuga Beach Resort and Spa will be fully operational in 2011.

The new pedestrianised Dunas Beach Resort and Spa will comprise a mix of 1,133 fully-furnished villas, apartments, studios and hotel suites set among landscaped gardens and footpaths within a secure gated community. Off-plan buyers of the properties at Dunas Beach range from investors seeking capital growth and rental income to others wanting a holiday home in the sun.

Sol Meliã will handle the management and letting of the privately-owned properties in the resort where facilities will include five bars, four restaurants, tennis courts, a gymnasium, pools and a Meliã Spa offering a range of treatments. A wedding pavilion, the island’s biggest conference centre seating 400 delegates and a medical centre are included in the plans as well as food and gift shops and a children’s club and crèche.

Alongside the resort, other developments include the first of four new 18-hole golf courses. Also in hand are plans for a 360-berth marina close to Dunas Beach Resort.

Sal Island's beautiful beaches are hardly crowded!

Dunas Beach has already has proved popular with strong pre-sales achieved despite the tough economic conditions, with investors purchasing 75 per cent of the properties off-plan to date. They were attracted by the assurance of a sustained rental income and strong capital growth. In addition to cash investors, many have opted to buy through a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension).

Designed by Malaga-based architectural practice HCP, which drew up the master plan for the Dunas Beach resort, the properties combine traditional Mediterranean-style exteriors with contemporary interiors designed for indoor/outdoor living. All the air-conditioned properties can be supplied fully-furnished and equipped.

Prices freehold properties vary with size and location within the resort. Current prices start at €139,950 for a studio rising to €449,950 for a three-bedroom villa. (The seven single-storey detached five-bedroom, four-bathroom beachfront villas priced at €799,950 have been sold).

The Resort Group’s investment projections:

The Resort Group’s investment projections are based on sound research and analysis undertaken for the group by Savills which, in 2007, provided data and intelligence backed by research into land values and rentals on Cape Verde’s Sal island compared with the rest of the global market.

Says The Resort Group’s marketing director Adam Ellis: “The research showed that, although the global average for occupancy of rented resort properties was 68 per cent, the average for Sal is 80 per cent with the highest occupancy rates on the island reaching 95 per cent. Despite the recent recession there has been little change in these figures.”

Rental yields based on these figures range from a conservative 9.4 per cent to 13.1 per cent on a one bedroom apartment, but go as high as 22 per cent on a Presidential hotel suite based on occupancy of 95 per cent (the current best-on-island occupancy rate).

“On the basis of these rental returns, and the on-going tourist development of the Cape Verde islands, we expect investors who buy properties at Dunas Beach Resort could achieve an annual capital growth of six to 12 per cent for the next five years,” says Adam.

The figures are supported by market intelligence available from international tour operators and the Cape Verde Government’s growth figures. The Cape Verdean economy should grow between four and five per cent this year, according to the head of the bank Banco de Cabo Verde.

Dunas Beach Resort and Spa

Cape Verde is tipped to see a big increase in tourism following the launch of a new inter-island ferry service. Figures recently released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) show an increase in visitor numbers of 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.

Cape Verde Fact File

Location

Cape Verde – the Atlantic island group 450 km off West Africa, midway between Portugal and Brazil – is located 1,000 km south-west of the Canary Islands and is on the same latitude as Barbados. These are the closest tropical islands to the UK within five and a half hours flying time. Local time in Cape Verde is one hour behind GMT in winter and two hours behind BST in summer. The location and climate of Cape Verde has prompted the description of the islands as ‘the Caribbean without the jetlag.

Cape Verde comprises ten islands, nine of which are inhabited (population 506,000). In the forefront of those attracting tourists and developers are Sal, Santiago, Boa Vista and Maio. Their landscapes range from ‘lunar’ to lush and from white sandy beaches to verdant mountains.

Economy

Economic stability is underlined by the way in which the local currency – the Cape Verde Escudo – benefits from a fixed exchange rate with the Euro (110 Esc = €1). The Euro is accepted in many hotels, restaurants and elsewhere in Cape Verde.

Language

Portuguese is the archipelago’s official language but English is widely spoken.

Climate

Cape Verde’s ‘all-year summer’ climate is tropical and dry with no hurricanes. Winter temperatures are ten degrees warmer than those of the Canary Islands. Sunshine averages ten to 12 hours a day and the usual temperature is around 25°C. There is minimal rainfall (about 260 mm) between August and October.

Getting there

Dunas Beach Resort is located 20 minutes by road from the airport on the island of Sal. From the UK there are weekly direct flights to Sal from Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick. Flying time is around five and a half hours. Alternatively travellers can fly at other times from other UK airports by changing planes in European centres including Lisbon, Madrid, Amsterdam and Paris. Transport between the islands is available by air and catamaran services.

For more details, contact Property Investor Partnership: 01603 268083, or visit www.dunasbeachresort.com