Strolling through the surf at Ponta Preta on the west coast of Sal island I can see why people wax lyrical about Cape Verde, the Atlantic archipelago about 400km from Senegal’s coast. It is mid-May, 27°C, sunny and dry. Ahead of us there is nothing but pristine white sand and clear turquoise water. Were it not for the fierce northeast wind whipping off the dunes and the nearby rattle of jackhammers the scene would be almost perfect.

“One day this will all be luxury villas and marinas,” explains Simon McGee, a local property consultant and amateur windsurfer who moved from Cornwall to Sal two years ago. “Where else in the world can you find this weather and a beach of this quality just a six-hour flight from London?”

Equally important for people interested in buying property on Cape Verde’s 10 islands and eight islets is the country’s reputation for stable multi-party government and sound economic management. Annual gross domestic product growth is 6.5 per cent, inflation is 1.4 per cent and the country recently decided to leave the Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas) and align itself more closely with the European Union. (The Cape Verdean escudo is already freely convertible with the euro.)

The combination of natural beauty and a relatively safe investment climate have already prompted international property groups, such as Portugal’s Tecnicil to invest more than €3m in a string of developments along Sal’s coveted west coast.

And similarly grandiose schemes are taking shape on the island of São Vicente, where the Fortim Mindelo, a 41-apartment complex, and on Santiago, the largest island in the chain, where UK developer Casa Group is investing €3.5bn in a 1,640 hectare site 8km from Praia’s international airport.

And where big name property companies have led individual buyers have followed. Such is the speculative frenzy on Sal that all the front-line developments on the west coast – Paradise Beach, Calheta Bay, Murdeira Beach Resort – are sold out, while soon-to-be-released top-end villas overlooking the beach at Cotton Bay are priced at €1.2m.

“That may sound like a lot of money but try to find anything comparable in the Canaries or the Bahamas,” says McGee, a director of CVP Real Estate and its associated Cape Verde Portal. “In my view, property here is still cheap by comparison with other winter holiday destinations and can only get stronger.”

In 2004, before the UK television programme A Place in the Sun tipped Cape Verde as one of the top 20 “emerging property hot spots”, you could pick up a two-bedroom apartment near the beach for about €80,000. Today the same apartment costs about €120,000. Prices at prestigious developments, such as Porto Antigo, come with even higher price tags – €290,000 for a two-bedroom space with sea views rising to €340,000 for a two-bedroom with a mezzanine level.

Cape Verde remains a draw for foreign investment and buyers are now trying to find value on lesser known islands. Ishmael Abdool, a Trinidad-born businessman from north London, bought his first properties on Sal – a 15-bedroom townhouse that he rents to surfers and a one-bedroom in Santa Maria – in 2004 and is now scouting properties on Boa Vista and Maio. “Cape Verde is like the Canaries 10 years ago,” he says. “Of course there are still teething problems but as long as you take precautions there are still plenty of opportunities.” (He recommends hiring someone who speaks the local dialect, Kriolu, and knows his way around the Camra.)

The island for which he and others have the highest hopes is Boa Vista. With 40km of unspoilt coastline, white sand dunes and palm oases, it is about three times the size of Sal and planning permission is more tightly controlled, so there is less chance it will be disfigured by over-development. The opening of a new international airport was recently delayed but when it is ready to receive flights, the island will also be just six hours flying time from northern Europe.

A typical example of the developments exciting interest on Boa Vista is Delfini Resort, a mix of 40 luxury apartments overlooking Cabral beach, on the outskirts of Sal Rei, the island’s capital. All the apartments will face west and have views of the beach and bay 60 metres away. Prices range from €90,000 for a one-bedroom unit to €270,000 for a penthouse. In the smaller developments overlooking Estoril beach to the south of Sal Rei’s pier a one-bedroom flat with a balcony directly overlooking the local windsurfing centre costs about €100,000.

More adventurous buyers prepared to put up with the frustrations and delays or inter-island transfers should try Maio too. Bungalows at Vila Maris Village on the island for just €40,000, while RM Development Services has two-bedroom apartments on Morro beach starting at €82,000.

And to find homes amid mountains and sheltered river valleys, look to Santo Antão, considered by many to be the jewel in the Cape Verdean chain. Land prices are about half of those on Sal and Italian developer Vittorio Lippi is offering large three-bedroom villas by the sea at Porto Novo for €200,000.

Compared to Sal, Santiago enjoys wide cultural and geographical diversity. The nearby capital Praia hosts the annual Festival Gamboa, where you can hear distinctive local music styles such as the batuko and funana . The government is also in the process of constructing a ring road enabling residents to connect easily to the airport and to Cidade Velha, a 16th century Portuguese fort.

“What’s the point of coming all the way to Cape Verde if you’re going to bury yourself in a resort identical to ones you can find on the Canaries and the Bahamas? At least here you’ll have a chance of hearing real Cape Verdean music and know you’re in Africa.”

Local agents

Cape Verde Portal, tel: +44 (0)20-7099 3928;
www.CapeVerdePortal.com

Source: Financial Times