MIPIM is that often sunny, always hectic week in the property industry calendar when everyone gets the chance to hone in on what they have been chasing all year – the money. It is the week for meetings and sessions, lunches and soirées to find out where the cash is going and, more importantly, where it’s coming from.
International investment into the UK, and specifically London, has grown to become critical to the survival of the property sector. Just take a look at how much international money is set to pour in from newcomers over the next 12 months in our global investment feature and see how many international investors are topping the league table of the most powerful figures in UK property if you need more convincing.
But what about opportunities for UK firms and individuals to make money in property further afield?
A trip to Brazil last month, and more specifically to the north of the country where there is so much growth yet to come, highlighted that, when it comes to opportunities for the UK property sector, there is a sound argument for looking outside the confines of our green and pleasant land.
And Brazil is a prime candidate for attention – with a domestic economy expected to pick up 4% in 2013, and investment pouring in ahead of the football World Cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. A massive €13bn has been allocated to improve infrastructure and transport facilities ahead of these events and the Brazilian government’s “My House, My Life” scheme, launched in 2009 to tackle the 8m-person housing shortage in the country by building 3m properties by the end of 2014, means that there has never been a better time to get in on the action.
But the problem, of course, is that Brazil is renowned for being an extremely tough nut for UK firms and investors to crack. Tough, but not impossible. One man has made it work. And now he is offering other UK companies the chance to piggyback on his success.
As of December 2012, EcoHouse Group is the biggest developer in northern Brazil just four years after it was set up by British developer Anthony Armstrong Emery in 2009.
Riding on the “My House, My Life” scheme, Armstrong Emery is set to deliver 40,000 homes across Brazil by 2015. The group’s fifth social housing scheme has now started on site in Natal, northern Brazil, where he is based. He is, he says, proof that a UK developer can make it work.
Now EcoHouse Group offers another way for UK firms and individuals to strike the Brazilian market while the iron is hot – an investment option that is not only safe, but which guarantees a 20% ROI within 12 months.
It sounds too good to be true. But after some digging, it all looks pretty kosher. Simple yet effective, the company uses a secure investment structure which has been risk-assessed by CAIXA banks, registered with the Brazilian government, and is protected by UK legislation as all investment is placed in an escrow account with Lloyds of London. The 20% uplift simply comes from every investor putting in £23,600 per unit to fund construction, which is then sold for £31,700 as part of the government-backed scheme – well in line with local prices. Some £27,000 goes back to the investor and the rest stays with EcoHouse.
With plans to roll out the scheme further afield to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and to potentially become one of Brazil’s biggest property and investment companies – this is one Brit who may just have cracked this tough nut.
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
