Fresh Invest

Widely becoming known as "The Caribbean for Europe", Cape Verde has an exciting future!

The Country:

The beautiful islands of Cape Verde are situated in the north Atlantic sea off the coast of West Africa. With latitude around the same as that of the Caribbean it is relatively undiscovered as a holiday destination and investment market. It has the all year round sunshine like the Caribbean however Cape Verde is a lot less humid due to beneficial prevailing winds from the North East.

With its location in relation to Europe, Cape Verde is really due to “take off” in the next few years. The flight time from the UK is only 5 hours! And the time difference is only 2 hours meaning that there is no jet lag. These 2 points alone make it a very attractive destination for any European holidaymaker.

Property Values:

Property values have been steadily rising for the past few years with a year on year increase of around 15% only helped along by the fact tourism has increased 100% since the year 2000

Properties vary from 1 bed studio apartments to 5 bed villas with private pools and gardens.

Investment:

Cape Verde’s political history is another factor benefiting its property prices and stability.
It was founded in 1462 by the Portuguese who inhabited it and it gained independence from the Portuguese on July 5th 1975.
 
Cape Verde has a stable democratic government and its performance throughout the recession has been hailed by the International Monetary Fund as an “emerging market”

Purchase Procedure:

Foreign nationals are free to purchase property in Cape Verde. The purchase procedure couldn’t be simpler. On most developments you will lodge an initial reservation fee (normally around €2,000) and then a promissory contract is put together for both buyer and seller to sign, this will bind both parties to the sale. With the promissory contract the buyer will normally pay 30-40% of the purchase price, the remaining amount to be paid upon completion.

There are taxes to be paid on investments:

• Capital gains tax is charged at 3% if your *New Build* property increases in value by over 100%
• Capital gains on any other property are also charged at 3% but only if the property has increased by 30% on the initial purchase price.
• There is annual property tax to be paid of 3% of 25% of the property’s value.
• Lastly there is tax to be paid on rental income at a rate of 20% however you can offset your tax payments in the UK against this.

Summary:

From an investment point of view Cape Verde is a very attractive country.

• It has been granted EU Special Status and has received £1.2 billion worth of funding.
• The tourism industry is set to rise rapidly; the new international airport on Sal will help this.
• Property prices are still relatively low and there are some great discounts available.
• More and more airports are flying direct.
• No Jet lag, Short flight time and no inoculations are needed.