Luxury Real Estate still a Solid Investment

Some interesting numbers from the much talked about Architectural Digest / Sotheby's International Real Estate Survey
· 85% of respondents agreed that “Real estate continues to be one of the better investments a person can make.”
· 72% of respondents believe their primary home value has remained constant or increased in value over the last 12 months (46% remained constant; 26% increased).
· Nearly two-thirds of respondents report that current conditions have “no effect” on their likelihood to sell their primary home (63%).
· In the coming year, 79% believe the value of their primary home will continue to remain constant or increase (55% remain constant; 24% will increase).
· In the next year, more than half (54%) of the million-dollar homeowners plan to buy, sell, build or invest in a new home.
· 69% of million-dollar homeowners agree that now is a good time to add to one’s real estate holdings.
· 71% agree, “Over time, nothing beats real estate for building one’s personal wealth.”
· Half (50%) of respondents think the media exaggerates conditions to make the market seem worse than it is.

To day is the day!

Today Cape Verde became the WTO's 153d member! This is a winning result for the archipelago which has been in negotiations to join for years.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the rules of trade for goods and services between nations at a global or near-global level. Though only launched in 1995 the trade regulations on which the organization is founded have existed since the first General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which took place in 1949.

Construction Update (10)

Are nt pictures worth a thousand words!? The first picture (before) was taken in January of this year, and the second picture (after), was sent to us earlier this month from Ponta Bicuda, Cape Verde.

Share the wealth!

Up until now this was reportedly the most expensive luxury holiday home in the world. Built from the ground up for a reported £78M in the rugged mountains of Montana, the house includes the ski slopes, with ski lift (of course) and one of its most outstanding features - an outdoor swimming pool with a glass cover that can be removed on warm days.

However, recently the fifteenth wealthiest man in the world, Chelsea football club owner, - Roman Abramovich revealed the plans for his palacial "crib" in London. Spread across two stucco-fronted properties in Lowndes Square in London, the eight-bedroom building is expected to be worth up to £150M making his, the most expensive home away from home

Construction Update (9)

As you can see from the image, last week was an exciting one for Cor di Mar. With a great BIG BANG down went the cliff. By now all of the machinery we have so painstakingly described is making its way down to begin ground works, now much closer to sea.
Is this grass not the single most resistant natural fibre you have ever seen!?

Cape Verde, Mars

NASA is publishing impressive images from the Cape Verde promontory... i've heard local climate is not as perfect as Cape Verde's.

Rental Returns and guarantees - Ponta Bicuda

I’ve had a very interesting evening last night with a friend who works for a European hotel powerhouse. We’ve used our time to discuss developments, returns and rental revenues in two different fronts; the hotel and the residential.
The hotel is simple and straightforward: the income depends on the hotel quality, on the capacity to generate revenues from tourism, business and city travel – the glass is most of the times half full with the sales to professional operators (tourist packages, meetings, symposiums and so on), creaming the milk for the other half with direct sales and more expensive channels.
The residential is a different issue: One can’t guarantee a steady income, as there are no professional structure to half fill the glass. It always depends on the local rental market for permanent residents and on the weekly rental for tourists, and the weekly rental depend on factors like cheap flights availability (on the hotel packages this is not an issue because the flight is part of the package and was previously negotiated for a cheap price), knowledge of the place and management quality.
I am glad we have the five star Tiara hotels on our Ponta Bicuda resort; otherwise it would be impossible to guarantee a steady income. I just don’t comment on the way some do it!