Manaus Brazil a Tropical Metropolis Popular with Foreign Investors

Of all the cities in Brazil perhaps the most unusual is Manaus, riverside capital of the state of Amazonas. As that description suggests, it has a untypical location (and indeed reputation) sited as it is near (practically on) the mighty River Amazon and in the midst of the historic rainforest. It's also quite remote, considering its size. The metropolitan area is very nearly two thousand Kilometres from the national capital, Brasilia. It's a bit more than that to either Rio de Janiero or Sao Paolo and the trip to both takes nearly four hours by air.
The settlement goes back a very long way in time. The earliest recorded existence is way back in 1669 when (very!) early Portuguese explorers/colonists established a fort and trading post. Things slowly developed from there and the growing settlement was officially constituted as a town –called 'Manaus' (“mother of the gods” in a local tongue)- in 1832. Just sixteen years later they achieved the next step, status as a fully-fledged city.

The city and its surrounding area really took off in the late nineteenth century. This was almost entirely due to the rubber industry boom, where for a while the producers round here enjoyed a virtual world monopoly. The city became very wealthy, very quickly. It quickly acquired all the trappings of ostentatious wealth; huge mansions, expensive public buildings, a magnificent opera house (the 'Teatro Amazonas')and so on.Inevitably though, plants and seeds were successfully smuggled out to other areas and countries (e.g. Malaya) and the area lost its dominance in the industry and its position as an economic powerhouse.For quite a while, though, the city boomed and many fortunes were made and millionaires created. Eventually however things went rapidly to the other extreme and real poverty struck for many people.

Since then there's been a healthy recovery based on a duty-free regime, a fact that's of interest (and great relief) to long term investment providers in this part of the country and come to think of it short term investment too. Both levels of course demonstrate a vibrant combination of both domestic and international finance. So, nowadays the city has bounced back from its slump to such an extent that its metropolitan area, with 2.3 million people, is the largest in northern Brazil. Its GDP contributes about 1.5 percent of the whole country's GDP which is about average for Brazil on a person-by-person basis. The area also accounts for almost exactly half of the entire Amazon regional population. To a large extent, economic prosperity is grounded on the Manaus Free Trade Zone, a federally approved initiative which has proved popular in Brazil to say the least and is directly responsible for nearly a hundred thousand jobs within the zone and more than twice as many again outside it.

Weather is unusual for this kind of terrain and vegetation. There are distinct wet and dry seasons. So, instead of having a typical tropical rainforest ('jungle') climate the local pattern is more usually categorised as more of a monsoon type. year round average temperatures are in excess of 30 degrees Celsius making this a very popular area for investors looking to build hotels and resorts aimed at holiday makers looking to get that tropical feeling from their surroundings. Anyone looking to Invest In Brazil, Especially in property and real estate should consider this area as a number of investment news websites and publications are already promoting the area as one of the top emerging Brazilian investment spots of 2013.
-->

Triple Victory for EcoHouse at the OPP Awards

Wednesday was a very special night for the international property industry. More than three hundred representatives from companies operating around the globe gathered in London at the prestigious 'The Brewer' of EC1 for a gala evening.

The event was held under the auspices of OPP (Overseas Propert Professionals) and was to celebrate and reward the best and brightest stars in the overseas property world over the past year. A sort of cross between the Oscars and the Olympics for the profession !

We're very pleased and proud to announce that the panel of independent judges awarded EcoHouse not just one or two but three major awards. These were for 'Best Affordable Development', Best Estate Agency-Middle East and Best Developer-South America.

EcoHouse CEO Anthony Armstrong-Emery expressed his delight at the achievements. He made a point of publicly thanking all his staff who he gratefully acknowledged has all contributed to this great outcome for the company

Sao Paulo Brazil now a Major Economic Hub and a hit with Foreign Investors

Most people in other countries tend to have very settled views about Brazil. They think of the Amazon, the coffee, the football, the Rio carnival and very little else. But there's an awful lot more to this fascinating country than that. For a start, its sheer size, with an area nearly three and a half million square miles and a population now well over two hundred million. In fact in both aspects Brazil is now the world's fifth largest country. In economic terms, too the nation is powering ahead, with a GDP value which is the world's sixth largest. Apart from the USA, Brazil is easily the biggest and most vibrant industrial power in the Americas.
Within the country there's an astonishing diversity of territory including tropical rainforest, grassland, farmed areas and cities. By far the biggest built-up area is the coastal conurbation of Sao Paolo and the surrounding area. Not only is this city the biggest and most populous in Brazil ( nearly 50% bigger than Rio de Janiero for instance) but 'S.P' is also the largest city in the whole of the southern hemisphere and indeed seventh largest in the world. Not only that but the area's per capita GDP is second only to the capital, Brasilia. As well as a huge variety of domestic and international business centres, Sao Paolo also hosts the Stock Exchange and the Cereal Stock Exchange which is in fact the second largest Stock Exchange, by value, on the planet!

A city of this size also has considerable cultural and political influence, as you'd expect. For instance every two years it hosts the Sao Paolo Art Biennial and (more frequently) the famous Fashion Week, not to mention a host of international sporting events such as the Brazil Grand Prix Formula 1 and the Indy 300.
The city has a long history, dating all the way back to the first half of the sixteenth century. To put it in perspective, that was about the time King Henry the eighth was having his marital difficulties in England ! Obviously, the area like the rest of Brazil was under Portuguese rule for centuries. In fact , the original village of Sao Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was settled some 50km inland from the very first settlement in Portuguese Brazil, Sao Vincente. The town then city grew slowly until the mid nineteenth century when it and the nearby port of Santos entered a prolonged boom caused by the world demand for coffee.

The original European settlers and their indigenous and African slaves occupied the country almost exclusively till 1888 when slavery was abolished. After that, Brazil saw the beginnings of its modern cosmopolitan nature when wave after wave of European and middle eastern immigrants came to the country. Members of all groups settled in Sao Paolo of course but Italians featured particularly.

When coffee as an important product subsided somewhat it was replaced by sugar cane and alcohol plus of course a great many other industries. In the present day this mighty metropolis is a major economic hub, encouraging and rewarding both long term investment and also short term investment especially in property and real estate where thousands of investors, big and small, from all over the world have already invested in the popular Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing programme. Real estate and other ethical investments opportunities will continue to advance the economy for many years to come.

Brazilian president gives economic advice to David Cameron

Brazil's president made a opportune, though almost certainly innocent, intervention during Britain's party political conference season when she hailed the significance of stimulating economic expansion.

President Dilma Rousseff, a former Marxist, said it was vital to stimulate the economy during a recession. Standing next to David Cameron, who is pushing an austerity programme in the UK, she delivered a speech at the presidential palace in Brasilia that could gave been written by the Labour party.

Dilma said: "I stressed the importance of expanding efforts with a view to improving the conditions that will prove conducive to a recovery of the international economy, not only as regards developed countries but also as regards emerging countries," said the socialist president.

"I have told the prime minister that Brazil has done its share in efforts to improve the recovery of the world economy by means of stimuli to jobs and growth."

The president lavished praise on Cameron for his successful visit to Brazil, saying she was impressed that he visited all three main cities – São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia.

Cameron responded by supporting Brazil's campaign to have a permanent seat on the UN security council. He said: "As Brazil takes its place on the global stage, so it's case for permanent membership of the UN security council becomes ever stronger. We support Brazilian membership.

Cameron ended his trip to Brazil by launching a treaty to encourage the production of more Anglo-Brazilian blockbuster films. Speaking at his press conference with Rousseff, Cameron said he wanted to see more productions of films such as the James Bond adventure Moonraker that was shot in Rio. Cameron, who claims to be a big Bond fan, said: "In film [we have agreed] a new film co-production treaty which will offer incentives for our budding film makers to work together and make a new generation of blockbusters with those unforgettable moments like Bond hanging over Sugar Loaf Mountain."

The treaty, signed by the trade minister Lord Green and the Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota, was one of 10 treaties signed during his visit to Brasilia

Foreign Investment in Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing Continues to Rise

Ask any investment advisor or company or go and browse any alternative investment news website and the main topic is Brazilian real estate investments, and the main focus is the governments Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House My Life) programme. But why all the interest in the country? and what is this programme all about? There is currently a massive property boom going on in all of Brazil's main cities and it's being fuelled by the demand for affordable residential housing.

Brazil's economy has improved a great deal in recent years and is now the 6th largest economy in the world, there has also been a swift increase in general wealth of it's people. This has meant an unparalleled demand for reasonably priced housing. The rapidly growing middle classes, for one thing, have needed many more affordable homes to purchase than were previously available. Coupled with this is the situation of those whose present accommodation is sadly unsatisfactory or below standard.

The solution to this housing shortage was an idea first put onto the table by the previous president of Brazil Lula da Silva way back in 2008 which was to build affordable housing for the growing middle classes and to have set sale prices, one hundred percent mortgages provided by Brazil's federal bank and strict rules for purchase of a property to avoid these homes being bought and sold by the wrong people who were simply out to make a profit and to make certain that these homes went to middle class Brazilian families who needed then and who previously had little hope of getting onto the property ladder. The programme was finally launched 2009 and was welcomed both by the Brazilian media and the public. The name given to this programme was Minha Casa Minha Vida, which translates to my house, my life. Within the programmes first year tens of thousands of homes were built and sold and the scheme was seen as a huge success. Now approaching it's forth year interest in the programme by foreign investors has grown significantly with investors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Asia and the Middle East investing heavily in the programme.

The reason that this programme is so popular with investors from around the world is that is marketed as the safest foreign real estate investment currently available, the programme is a backed by the Brazilian federal government and there are millions of families on the waiting list so that once a home is completed it is instantly sold and the investors funds, plus profits are returned, usually within 12 months. Investment is through actually developers who are building the homes and not through a third party investment company.
With any popular investment, once it is well known enough all the conmen and dodgy investment companies seem to come out of the woodwork keen to take your money and then vanish, so be cautious and bear in mind these simple points that could save you from being a victim of a con. You should be investing direct with a developer and not an investment company, the developer will use your investment to build one or more units and return your investment plus profit in around 12 months, minimum investment is usually between £23,000 and £25,000 and because the final sale price of these properties is set by the Brazilian federal government your profit is set also and genuine companies are offering between 18% and 22% depending on how many units you invest in, a company offering a too good to be true return on investments ( I've seen one dodgy company claiming 80% ROI) should be avoided like the plague.

In summary, anyone wanting to Invest in Brazil and it's booming economy should consider Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing Investments, if your cautious and fully research who your investing through you can turn a tidy profit from this safe and secure investment.
-->