By 2024, the country is expected to be the fifth-largest economy in the world with its Government recently announcing the extraction of the first barrel of oil from the Tcomit oil fields in the Bahía de Santos, believed to be among the largest in the world. When extraction begins in earnest in 2010, Brazil expects to produce some 1.8 million barrels of oil a day, which is already attracting major investment interest.
The Daily Mail's property section recently highlighted the growing luxury property sector in Brazil and the fact that many European investors are attracted by the exceptional value offered by beach properties, particularly in the Natal region in north east Brazil. This market is also being fuelled by a burgeoning Brazilian middle class, hungry for luxury second homes on the idyllic north-east coast, close to Natal. An additional boost to the housing market has been the introduction of mortgages for Brazilian residents, a huge driver behind the current increase in home ownership and rise in property values.
The Daily Mail's property section recently highlighted the growing luxury property sector in Brazil and the fact that many European investors are attracted by the exceptional value offered by beach properties, particularly in the Natal region in north east Brazil. This market is also being fuelled by a burgeoning Brazilian middle class, hungry for luxury second homes on the idyllic north-east coast, close to Natal. An additional boost to the housing market has been the introduction of mortgages for Brazilian residents, a huge driver behind the current increase in home ownership and rise in property values.
Also highlighted by the Daily Mail feature was the fact that the area is relatively accessible -
just an eight or nine-hour flight from the UK with property on the beach starting at around
£50,000. When this interest is coupled with Brazil's impressive increase in tourism - particularly between 1995 and 2005, when it showed increases of 170 per cent - it all adds up to enormous market potential. More recent figures from World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) show those trends continuing; visitor figures for 2008 reached 5 million and Brazil's tourism industry is the biggest in South America.
With the government and banks in the country in talks about how overseas citizens can be offered easier access to mortgages, with legislation expected next year, it should become easier to buy property. International investors will soon be in search of a new opportunity with the depressed market in the US, Europe and the recent developments in the Middle East, all of which appoints to a long and sustained period of growth.
With the government and banks in the country in talks about how overseas citizens can be offered easier access to mortgages, with legislation expected next year, it should become easier to buy property. International investors will soon be in search of a new opportunity with the depressed market in the US, Europe and the recent developments in the Middle East, all of which appoints to a long and sustained period of growth.