Verant Valley in Cidade Velha, Santiago

Homes in the sun
More and more people aren’t only holidaying in Cape Verde but also investing in the islands. New apartments and villas are springing up everywhere. Wherever you go in the archipelago, apart from the smallest communities on the remotest islands, there’s the hustle and bustle of construction work. Cape Verde is experiencing a property boom as holidaymakers and investors alike snap up whatever is available while prices are relatively cheap.

At one end of the property development spectrum are new hotel resorts and holiday villages, while at the other are beautifully restored Portuguese colonial houses and new luxury villas.

“With year-round sunshine, prices from £35,000 and a five-and-a-half hour direct flight from the UK, it’s no wonder that experts are rating Cape Verde as one of the best places in the world to buy property,” says Cape Verde Portal, a full service property company.

Cannon at Fort Real do São Filipe

“Brits are snapping up properties and have been since the direct flights started,” says Simon McGee, its operations director. “There’s a broad group of people buying: young, well-heeled couples looking for a holiday investment, older couples looking for a retirement holiday home in the sun and investors buying rental properties in bulk.”

Cape Verde Portal has one-bedroom apartments and studios from £35,000, two-bedroom apartments in the larger resorts from around £95,200, and three-bedroom, semi-detached, off-plan villas from around £153,000. For those with money to burn, there are villas on Sal costing up to £1.1 million.

My verdict
Cape Verde seems likely to continue growing as a holiday and property investment favourite over the next few years. But tourism and development can be a burden as much as a boon. I hope the islanders don’t allow themselves to become buried under a mountain of concrete and brick, as has happened in all too many of the places that were once tropical idylls.