Boa Vista Property

Property in Sal Rei and on beaches to north and south

Around Sal Rei town

The island has not developed as fast as Sal, because of poor communications, both to the island and within the island itself.. The runway extension to take 737s is now complete with a new terminal for international flights, which have started.. New hotels are building on the long beaches at Praia de Chaves and Praia do Estoril. This will surely attract more tourists and lead to a development boom similar to that which has happened in Sal. The town of Sal Rei is still full of run-down crumbling buildings where people live without running water or drains. The streets are dark at night and winding. It has a very different feel to Santa Maria on Sal . There are few cars and aluguers are very expensive. The few restaurants and bars mainly cater for locals so whilst the beer is the same the decor and ambience are very different from the new Irish owned bars in Santa Maria on Sal. Still Cieran and Amy may be setting up here so look for improvements. J from Essex was nervous

" I have visited both Sal and Boa Vista and I have some questions. Boa Vista property prices seem to be the same as those in Santa Maria (with the exception of beach front properties) yet Boa Vista has a very poor infrastructure when compared to Sal. The airport shows no signs of being developed yet it is repeatedly mentioned that it was due to expand in 2006! The roads are non-existent compared to the new cobbled roads being constructed around Santa Maria. Santa Maria is overrun with taxis which makes it very easy to get around. This is not the case on Boa Vista where there did not even seem to be any taxis at the airport. There appear tobe few or no bars or restaurants in Sal Rei. What does one do for entertainment? There appear to be very few medical facilities on the island. There is no regular boat service between Sal and Boa Vista (I do not count the trimaran!). The only way to get there is an expensive internal flight."

Property Development Zones

There is a lot of development centered on Praia Cabral just to the north of Sal Rei and some is also planned for the magnificent beach at Praia de Chaves, to the south of the airport and much further south at Curral Velho. Estoril beach just south of the town is already built on. The football pitch behind Cabral Beach is going to be built over by a Scottish slum clearance company. There is also property in the town of Sal Rei itself and inland to the North-West of Sal Rei.. A new development area on the south coast will be opened up once an all-weather road is built to the wonderful Santa Monica beach. Honey Beach is a proposed developmeent by Cape Verde Solutions which is currently building Vila Jardins do Oceano on Santiago.

See Boa Vista property location map

S from Essex chose Boa Vista over Maio hoping for better flight links.

"There are two types of investor.one who has the money hanging about and can afford to invest it without seeing any return for many years and the second who borrows the money and needs to see an early return ie. rental income to cover this further outgoing. I am the latter type. I am merely pointing out that it is too easy for people to get carried away with the idea of buying a dream holiday home on a beautifull desert island(which it is) with rental returns guaranteed from Nov 07 etc covering all costs,when that is a complete invention on the part of some agent.It will catch a lot of people out who have been hoodwinked by these claims. I have bought on Boa Vista, for the very reasons above. I will still have to wait a couple of years for completion, but at least I know that people will be able to get there directly from UK and let my flat, helping to cover my ongoing costs, maintenance fees, property tax etc. Wheras on Maio I feel that would not happen for many years ,if at all. I do not doubt that it will be nice and quiet."

G from Birmingham was unimpressed by the price asked for land

"I spent time with an Italian agent who offered land at ridiculous prices. Land that was bought by a Cape Verdean for€900 18 months ago was sold to a Brit for €38,000. He spent 2 days on the island and believed he had a good deal. There was no road, no markers, just a plan. A sand dune covered his plot. No services were provided. However I did meet up with locals who offered a lot of assistance. Many of them need capital investment. They have learnt by the mistakes of others. They pointed out poorly constructed buildings. They will not make the same mistakes. My understanding is that you cannot get a mortgage for offplan developments. "

K from Sweden reports the progress during 2008 on various projects

"Just back after spending one month on Boa Vista. A lot has changed and not always for the better. Those intending to buy land to build on will have problems. It is almost impossible to buy from the local government in a nice position and there are many problems with workers and materials.

At Vila Cabral Block 1 seems finished but nobody has moved in. I noticed some repaired cracks. Vila Vila Cabral 2 has just started with ground work. It is very close to the Salt Pan and salt may seep into the foundations - check with experts before buying.

Por do Sol is close to Marine Club but the builder Alavanca does not have the best reputation. No equipment is in use and progress over one month was invisible.

Sabi Sand looks to be progressing with many workers and good equipment.

Cabral Beach was windy during our stay. Between the post office and the Marine Club it was very windy. Perhaps this is nice in the summer but not so good in winter. East-facing apartmentsl have windy balconies.

Estoril Beach is calmer. The new airport looks fine but TACV flightsl via Sal are very bad. Over a week four to five flights were postponed by 24 hours. Workers are living in shanty towns without sanitation, so that faeces and garbage are everywhere. "

capeverdeinfo.org.uk