Many "investors" rely on income to service a mortgage- the tourism market is the one that is emerging- the locals have been renting for a long time. My expertise is in Spain and Brazil, I do not know the tenancy laws in Morocco, but even in Brazil I would recommend long lets or Aparthotels where you do not have to service the accommodation and all is taken care of for you. Here in Brazil they have fixed terms with the ability to renew, indexed linked. My company offer in Morocco is selling to the local people as well so there is an exit strategy as well at completion to sell on. The expected yield on the "low" rental would still be around the 6-7.5% on capital invested. If you pay £40-50,000 for a property you do not expect to get £1000 per month!

I cancelled my reservation in Athena Golf - Saidia today and opted instead to go for a five star development in Hurghada, Egypt.

I've already purchased in Marrakech (Atlas Golf), but decided against a second property in Morocco as I did'nt want to put my eggs in one basket. The increase in TVA, the falling pound against the MAD has made investing in Morocco less desirable, especially in a super resort that will take between 5-8 years to establish itself.

Don't get me wrong, Saidia will be great when finished but to get decent returns on this development will take time. In the mean time there are much better investment opportunities in other countries offering much better value for money.

The falling pound- it is falling against all currencies including the euro. There are many opportunities in many countries, but one must examine why you are investing, do you want holiday homes in several countries far from home or are you looking for a certain profit! Refurbished riads are selling very well, and you can profit by having one refurbished with everything managed from purchase reform and sale. The best investment for profit I have seen in Morocco. If you would like the full investor report I can e-mail it.

Totally agree that Morocco will take 5-8 years to become established and a small investment will become very beneficial.
Can you let me know which development in Egypt you are looking at.
Thanks

sdvpm.

There is a new pre-release five star development in Hurghada called Hania Beach. I've reserved 4 studio apartments at 25k each on pre-release. There is also a 60% bank mortgage being arranged that will be written into the contract.

There are no vat or capital gains issues in Eqypt.

There is a thread dedicated to this development on the Egypt Bulletin Board. Feel free to have a read through and make your own judgement.

redangel, will do, thanks

"He says the reason for Emaar acquiring Hamptons is purely to access the high end UK market."

Is it for this reason that Emaar does not even tell Hamptons as what will be released, when it will be released and at what price. When Emaar last released they had their launch in Tangiers. Hamptons phoned me next day to inquire if I was interested. When I asked them the above stated questions. Hamptons was very apologatic and accepted the mess Emaar has placed them into. I think Hamptons have given up on Emaar and calls made to hamptons are now on voice mails and messages left are not replied.

I believe Emaar paid £80 million for Hamptons and if they are trying to capture top end of the market, they are doing a fine job.

The massive Saidia Plan Azure development was planned with extended season in mind, which is key for sound investment.

Essentially it is a giant Centre Parcs with sun. The hotel down the road from a Centreparcs may well suffer from normal seasonailty yet Centreparcs are busy year round.

Why is this?

As an investor I was intrigued as to why Centreparcs manages to extend the season. Clearly it's down to the large array of leisure facilities that appeal COME RAIN OR SHINE.

I was never interested in a typical touristic property.

__________________
Been investing abroad a few years. Always amazed people invest in places that produce just a few months rent per year

I don't understand that you could say there is no real estate selling. I am an agent myself, I sell a lot of appartments/villa's because I provide good guarantees on paper discussed with buyer and developer. I don't know why people invest in resorts if they have relative small budget, I recommend appartments in Tangiers. Growth between 20-30% per year. You all must know something, no one ever says this is in the forum, the biggest investor in real estate is the moroccan living abroad in Europe. They provide a huge economic injection, knowing that will come every year to see relatives. So this is different if you compare it with Egypt or other countries. And you also must know that moroccans abroad starting to earn more, so the house that they buy is also more expensive. And believe they are keen on Tangiers, wether they live somewhere else in Morocco they still want an app. for holiday. This and knowing that the freezones and harbor will provide more than 100.000 employees, they all need a house. And just as said here, the tourism growth and foreign investments (not only in real estate but in more different areas) makes Tangiers a booming market with sometimes unbelieveable growth. Tangiers profits from it's (upcoming)industrial and tourism(moroccan abroad, foreigners) And everything is beeing sold. For example: I bought an appartment a year ago for 700eu per m2,already built, in the centre of Tangiers( near the upcoming store: El corte Ingles). I sold it two months ago for 950 eu per m2. The appartment is 96 m2, imagine my profit being almost 35% . This is Tangiers at the moment, it will remain for 5-10 years ;-)

And oh yeah not to forget the riads are also very intersting to look at, just as Michael Bush said :-)