EcoHouse Group Release More Photos from Casa Nova, Investors are excited

Bosque and Casa Nova Construction Updates July 2013

We are pleased to release the latest constructions updates from three of our developments.

 As can be seen from these photos, Casa Nova Green units are now nearing completion and on the Casa Nova Gold project, the foundations have been laid and construction of the units is now underway.

 On our latest project, Bosque Residencial, work is continuing and the shells of many units of the Acacia phase are near completion.

more construction photos here

EcoHouse Launch New Corporate Video

EcoHouse Group Corporate Video Showcasing the companies continuing dedication to Minha Casa Minha Vida and Brazilian Social Housing, After the success of Arco Iris and Casa Nova, EcoHouse have recently launched their third Minha Casa Minha Vida Development, Bosque Residencial.

EcoHouse now have offices in London, Sao Paulo, Natal, Toronto, Singapore and Dubai and are making Minha Casa Minha Vida Investments more popular than ever. http://www.ecohousegroup.com

Teresina Brazil welcomes the Minha Casa Minha Vida Programme

The city of Teresina has the distinction of being the only State capital (of Piaui state in this case) in the North East which is not actually situated on the Atlantic coast. In fact this city of 800,000 people is well inland, about 350 Km from the ocean. It is younger than many other Brazilian towns and cities. Teresina was only founded in 1852, as a planned city (the first planned city in the country). It originally had a different name, Vila Nova do Poty (in English 'New Town of Poty'...referring to the Poty River). Later in the century the settlement was renamed Teresina in honour of the wife of Pedro II the Emperor of Brazil, the Empress Teresa Cristina, the town is now seeing an increased from international investors keen to further develop the city and surrounding areas.

Teresina was (and still is) the naturally hottest city in Brazil and one of the two or three most lighting-prone places on earth. The geography of the district is influenced by its location in a transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the north-eastern plains. Both scrub coverage and distribution of mid-size trees are plentiful. The overall climate is tropical with just two main seasons per year, the wet and the dry. Temperature range in Teresina is from 20 degrees C up to 35, with an average of 27 making it ideal for urban development.

The economy of the city is currently based on the processing and/or manufacturing of a number of products. These include chemicals and pharmaceuticals, ceramics, furniture, bicycles and soft drinks (to name but a few). The building and construction industry has also surged in the last couple of decades, as can be seen by the large number of high-rise buildings in the downtown or city-centre areas. For this reason it has the nickname of 'Town of Towers' (or at least the Portuguese equivalent of the title). Construction in and around the city continues to this day as the city catches the attention of foreign investors and developers.
This especially-designed inland city has two features that are immediately obvious to visitors. One is the logical grid system of the city centre. The other is related, it's the presence of the many thousands of mango and other trees which line the streets, giving the whole place a very 'green' feel. In addition, locals and visitors alike love the fact that Teresina is one of the 'safest' urban centres in Brazil, with rates of crime well under the national average making it very popular with overseas investors. Teresina is not just the capital of Piaui state but almost completely dominates it, not just administratively but economically and culturally too. Not only is forty percent of the state's GDP dependant on the capital but it's also very much the hub of musical and entertainment aspects too. You can access a blog about this by clicking on the translatable site Agenda Cultural Teresina.

Every year in the summer the city hosts 'Encontro Nacional de Folguedos'. This is Brazil's national festival of folklore and is a highly-prestigious celebration of Culture, Music, Dance and Food from right across the country. All these features of this vibrant and unusual city make the place highly unique and interesting in many ways. Needless to say, this growing metropolis provides an attractive option for those considering short term property investment, as there is an abundance of land ideally located for housing developments, this has attracted a number of property developers from both Brazil and overseas who are prepared to build minha casa minha vida housing developments in the area, both locals and city officials have welcomed this news and many outsiders wishing to safely invest in Brazil have also shown a keen interest in these future social housing developments.

News Construction Photos of the Casa Nova Green Development

Latest Construction Photos taken at the Casa Nova Green Development in Natal, North East Brazil

Brazilians Living in Britain Boost Confidence in Minha Casa Minha Vida Investments

Investors in the popular Minha Casa Minha Vida Social housing programme have reported feeling more confident in the programme after discussing the product with some of the many thousand Brazilian's living here in the United Kingdom, Brazilian's are proud people and even prouder of the government programme that will put an end to the housing deficit in Brazil

Brazilians and their descendants form the largest Latin American group of people in the United Kingdom. For many years there has of course been a community from the South American giant in England, Scotland and Wales but in the last few decades it has expanded very rapidly.

Estimates of total numbers vary widely but it is generally thought that the official statistics greatly under-estimate the figures. Reasons for this are many and are very controversial. The opinion is widely held that a large number of people simply 'stay over' when their permissions to be in Britain expire. On the other hand, some of them do get such legal extensions or 'long-term residences' in the first place. There seems to be a consensus emerging, though, that there are about 200,000 Brazilians (legal or otherwise) in the UK in 2012.
Most of the earlier immigrants were students or former students who remained after their courses, either legally or otherwise. It's true to some extent that the relatively large numbers from the nineteen-seventies onwards were able to come for one particular reason. It was because travel at last became practical and affordable for people other than the rich for the very first time.

Brazilians in the UK came to widespread public notice in 2005. This was due to the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes from Brazil, a resident and worker in Tulse Hill, London. Mr. de Menezes was mistakenly identified by armed plainclothes police as a terrorist on the run following the second attempted wave of July bombings in London that year. The chased him into Stockwell Station and shot him dead, thinking he was Osman Hussein, an instigator of the failed second wave.

Nowadays well over half of all Brazilians in Britain live in Greater London, many of them in the borough of Brent (estimated between twenty and thirty thousand there), Bayswater (often called by its nickname 'Brazilwater') and the Stockwell area where they live beside a large number of Portuguese people. Outside London, there are reckoned to be many Brazilians in other locations. These include Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Norfolk and Brighton. Throughout the UK many Brazilians seem to be working at lowly 'blue-collar' jobs, in many cases well below the level of education and/or qualification they hold. This is probably due to visa restrictions plus lack of fluency in English. The statistics from the Institute for Public Policy Research seem to show that about 32% are involved in cleaning and associated work plus another 26% in Hotel and Catering jobs. Courier occupations account for another ten per cent and so does the construction industry.
Over the last twenty years or so a number of business and services have been specifically set up, especially in London, to cater for the Brazilian community. They include opportunities for both long term investment and of course short term investment from Brazil itself and more locally from the UK. These comprise numerous cafes and restaurants, media outlets, counselling and legal services and of course media of print, broadcast and/or online kinds. Particularly interesting is the brasil.net paper and cyber news outlet and Rede Record a TV outlet to be found on Sky channel 801. There are an enormous number of musical and sporting activities, too. All these add to the vibrant and growing mix that is 'Brazil in Britain' today.
This close to home Brazilian culture for some reason gives the people and businesses of the United Kingdom a boost of confidence in the Country, it's people and it's economy which is evident in the amount of interest that Brazilian focused investment seminers get from the British public and Businesses. Last year property investment seminars such as those promoting the popular minha casa minha vida affordable housing programme were sell out events.

Singapore Investors Visit Casa Nova Brazil

A fortnight ago 10 of our best Singapore investors came to see first hand what EcoHouse actually does. They had a wonderfully enjoyable trip and EcoHouse Brasil welcomed them with open arms, excited to show off all our successful Minha Casa Minha Vida development projects. They had a busy 7 days with us and visited all our construction sites, spoke with our director, commercial and sales managers, engineers, the company lawyer, the Infrastructure and Environmental Secretary of Sao Goncalo - who ensures EcoHouse follows all the necessary environmental and construction laws of the municipality, the Manager of Banco do Brasil - the government bankwhich we have recently partnered with in the Minha Casa Minha Vida program,and of course our CEO Anthony Armstrong.

They got the opportunity to ask any questions they might have and got a very clear picture and idea of what EcoHouse is doing on ground level. They also were afforded the opportunity to really understand the Minha Casa Minha Vida project initiated by the Brasilian government and saw for themselves the never ending demand and need for affordable housing and the wonderful investor opportunities available to them. But it wasn’t all work…the trip was also great fun! Our investors visited Natal’s various historical sites including Natal’s famous sand dune Morro de Careca. They also sawthe natural beauty of Natal on a thrilling buggy ride on our gorgeous beaches, ate some of the best cuisine Natal has to offer, shopped in our shopping malls and craft markets and even took a trip to the South of Brasil, visiting and touring Rio, Iguassu Falls - one of the world’s natural wonders, and Sao Paulo -Brasil’s buzzing commercial capital, allbefore heading off on their rather long journey home! EcoHouse wants to take this opportunity to thank all our Singaporean investors who took the time to visit us and we look forward to many more years of partnership and many more visits!

As we say in Portuguese "Ter você como parceiro nos fortalece ainda mais"

"To have you as our partner strengthens us even the more"

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

Minha Casa Minha Vida One Million Completions

Every Week Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff broadcasts her radio show ‘Café com a Presidente’ (Coffee with the President). Last week the main item was a particularly important one, affordable housing.



'Dilma' was reporting progress on the inspiring Government-sponsored ‘Minha Casa Minha Vida’ scheme ( in which EcoHouse is proud to be a major player). The target is for 3.4 million homes to be completed and delivered to people of modest means by 2014. This will make a really significant dent in the affordable housing deficit in Brazil, something that President Rousseff’s Government and its predecessor has been very concerned to achieve.

As of the end of August this year, the one million deliveries mark has been reached, an important milestone especially as, if anything that target has been reached ahead of schedule.

Higher Returns on Investments attributable to the Strong Position of Women in Brazil

As regards both their position in the economy and also in wider society, there's no doubt that women's contributions in Brazil are even more central and vital than they've ever been. In common with many other countries throughout Latin America, the status of females in the Country has steadily improved in recent decades. Equality is still not widespread however, despite the undoubted advances.

Since the most recent national constitution in 1988, both genders have, at least formally, enjoyed equal status in terms of rights and responsibilities. In practice, however, there are still some big differences between the two sexes. This is especially true in such areas as the economy, employment and public representation, let alone the (slightly!) greater contribution of males in the home. For instance, while it's illegal to discriminate between men and women in terms of wages, salaries and terms of employment, the average female wage tends to be lower in practice than the male one. Across the whole economy, the Labour and Employment Ministry has concluded that, worker-by-worker the average woman is paid about thirty per cent less than the average man on an hourly or yearly basis. Also the types of work undertaken tend to show quite marked gender patterns, despite numerous and growing exceprtions

This is noticeable at all levels. While Brazil has its first female President, Dilma Rousseff, less than ten percent of all other elected politicians at national level are women. The figure is higher at state and/or municipal level but only very slightly. It's a similar story in the judicial system where the UN found that only about five per cent of the most senior lawyers and judges were women. Elsewhere in society and the economy the pattern is an interesting one. Less than forty percent of Brazil's adult women are active, it seems, in the formal economy. But one must be careful because the alternative informal economy of unregistered and unregulated work is estimated to be large and growing.

As far as it can be measured, government statistics have found that most women in work are grouped into just a few main categories. For instance, 17% are occupied in wholesale or retail, 16% as domestic servants and employees in private households, 14% in agriculture or forestry pursuits and twelve percent in manufacturing, both large-scale and small-scale. In addition, a further 13% of women work in community services including health and social services and an additional ten percent in education, heavily concentrated at the low or middle levels of teaching or administration.

A really prominent example, though, of women's progress in recent years is in the field of education. Not only are there more female higher education students than males these days but the overall literacy figures throughout Brazil's society show that women slightly overtake men these days. In both cases the figure is just above 88%. This can only point positively to a workforce even better equipped these days to contribute well to the economy and to the life of the country on a wider scale. There's no doubt that this can only promise good results for returns on investment in Brazil, among many other aspects of this leading BRICS nation.

A highly respected Investment News Website is predicting that investments in Brazil will double over the next 12 Months, Many of these investments will be in the governments own Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing programme, meaning it's the ideal time to Invest In Brazil.

Politics and Governance of Brazil helping Investment in the Country Rise

Over the last three hundred years Brazil has experienced a number of different political systems. The earliest of these was when the territory was an agricultural colony, directly administered by the mother country Portugal. Gradually, immigration from Portugal and later from other European countries helped the population to swell with incomers from across the sea and the work and money they provided as important developmental investments in Brazil.



Over the last three hundred years Brazil has experienced a number of different political (and therefore economic) systems. The earliest of these was when the territory was an agricultural colony, directly administered by the mother country Portugal (and including only a relatively small coastal part of the current 3.3 million square mile nation). Gradually, immigration from Portugal and later from other European countries helped the population to swell with incomers from across the sea and the work and money they provided as important developmental investments in Brazil.

As the European domination spread northwards and westwards, governance changed as the scale of the dominion expanded. The local Amerindian populations were dominated, intermarried with, enslaved and dispossessed and to them were added the large numbers of African slaves brought in to the country to work on the white-owned farms and plantations. The Brazilian economy was taking off, although not of course on foundations any 21st century democrat would approve of. Nearly two hundred years ago, in 1822, Brazil provided a refuge for an exiled branch of the Portuguese royal family under Prince Pedro, the son of King John. The country formally became an independent empire under him and his successors as Emperor, which it remained for most of the nineteenth century until 1889. At that point there was a coup led by the military to establish an authoritarian type of 'republic'. This nominal structure, interspersed with dictatorships, lasted on and off in different forms for nearly a century.

More or less democratic elections were held for the first time in 1985. Since then there have been numerous parties and coalitions providing a number of different governments, nearly all of them compromises between many different factions. Broadly speaking, though most of the numerous parties can be said to fall into one or the other of two broad groups, internationally-oriented 'liberals' who hold that the country must be part of the wider world economy and nationalistic 'statists' who believe in state intervention in industry and commerce.

The commentator Ridenti has quoted the Cardoso Government as an example of the former, while the most recent Workers Party-led governments of ‘Lula’ da Silva or Dilma Rousseff represent the latter. However, these are broad brush-stroke classifications at best and elements of both do actually exist within either, although the proportions are different. At national level, the Government of Brazil has two Houses, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The third branch of administration, the so-called Executive is provided by the President and the members of the Cabinet. However, as a Federal Republic, there is a regional tier of government provided by the twenty-six states and their administrations plus an autonomous Federal District around the capital, Brasilia.

Finally there is the most 'local' manifestation of government and politics, the municipal level, comprising the mayors and councils running the towns and cities (no real legal distinction between the two). These three layers of government do have frictions and problems between them but generally speaking the interaction between the levels runs reasonably well. Each has its laid-out responsibilities, constitutions, budgets and laws and each can have an important effect on investment in Brazil, both domestic and international

A highly respected Investment News Website is predicting that investments in Brazil will double over the next 12 Months, Many of these investments will be in the governments own Minha Casa Minha Vida Social Housing programme, meaning it's the ideal time to Invest In Brazil.

Casa Nova Construction Updates

Construction work continues on the first phase of Casa Nova Residencial, New build crew lodgings have now been constructed for workers wishing to stay onsite rather than commute and our lucky mascot continues to roam the site.

Visit EcoHouse Developments for more Casa Nova, Minha Casa Minha Vida Construction updates