Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2010, after the collapse of the Spanish property bubble, and its forecasts of construction booms in Morocco, Dubai, Ukraine and Brazil date from that year. Its remarks about Ukraine read very differently after the conflict that began in 2014 and Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Construction is still booming in some countries, and that is where property speculators are already investing to keep the “property boom” going. Large Spanish construction companies are already applying to take on the projects about to start in Morocco and other North African countries.
A large number of projects are planned to develop luxury houses and villas priced between 75,000 and 200,000€. As we can see, that is a fairly reasonable price for turning the area into a retirement destination for many foreign tourists and pensioners looking for a quiet place to retire.
Morocco and Dubai are two destinations that make economic sense for Spanish builders.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is at the same stage Spain was at after the civil war, which is why the European Union has given the Ukrainian government more than 2,000 million euros to build roads, official buildings and private homes.
The future of many Spaniards who used to work in construction lies in emigrating to Ukraine, just as many emigrated to Germany years ago. Still, let’s hope the situation in Spain improves so Spaniards don’t have to travel so far.
The other country that will see a spectacular property boom is Brazil, where several Spanish and South American companies are already competing for a slice of the huge pie this exotic country will hand out.
Let’s just hope these countries take the construction boom more calmly and know when to put the brakes on, now that they have the example of what has happened: mortgages, land, property and speculation are not something to play with. They’re addictive, and they end up affecting more than one nation.
I’d also like to tell anyone who wants to start out in the land and housing business that, before getting involved in these countries, they should be clear about their laws, since they are not as permissive as a European country or the United States, and governments change overnight. That’s when you can be subject to compulsory expropriation as a foreign investor.
Further reading
- Ways to invest in property
- What to invest in during a crisis
- Investing in a business: the most profitable investment
- The mindset of an entrepreneur
Featured image: Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
