Google Streetview is about to launch soon in Brazil. It promises to be a very handy tool real-estate wise.

Apparently Google is exploring the possibility of slipping ads into Street View; interesting times ahead.

Tags: google streetview brazil

Brazil received 5 million tourists in 2007. that number went up to 5,7 million in 2009, toppiing India and putting Brazil in the league of Indonesia when it comes to tourism.

The true tourism potential of Brazil remains however untapped, it can easily compete with South Africa (9,1 million tourists a year).

Last week, the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism launched the Aquarela 2020 plan, for promotion of Brazil abroad.  By the end of this decade, the country hopes to attract 11,1 million visitors.  Brazil wants to increase the inflow of funds coming from foreign tourists by 304%, to US$ 17,6 billion US$ in 2020.

Tags: brazil tourism

A crucial reality check to check to which extent real estate selling prices are real is to keep an eye on the rent versus selling prices index.

We checked today the rental prices evolution of the last 6 months in Ipanema, Leblon and Lagoa in Zona Sul.   We are not talking bout temporary rental, but long-term local rental prices.
On average, rental prices went up by 18%, the last 6 months, that is 36% on a yearly basis.

The medium monthly rental price for a 3 bedroom appartment is now:
Ipanema: R$ 5.534 (2.128 €)
Lagoa: R$ 3.671 (1.411 €)
Leblon: R$ 5.240 (2.015 €)

By way of comparison, medium selling prices for a 3 bedroom appartment are now:
Ipanema: R$ 967.000
Lagoa: R$ 875.230
Leblon: R$ 1.148.624

Tags: rent rio de janeiro

2 more months to go and we will know who will host the Olympics in 2016. Officially Tokyo, Madrid, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro are still in the running, but it became clear the last months that the battle is between Chicago and Rio. If you do some research, you’ll realize to which extent the decission between Chicago and Rio de Janeiro is of an unseen geopolical dimension.

Chicago has lost some ground lately because of the politcal games that the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) is playing. Also, Chicago is virtually bankrupt and many citizens of the town are opposing against money being spend on organizing the Olympics.

The news agency AFP reported last week that Rio made huge advances since IOC member Carloz Nuzman made a “passionate and effective” presentation to the European Olympic Committee in Istanbul last November. Aided to a large part by Brazilian president Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, they have built on that steadily and, reports AFP, with apparently a vibrant economy and the funds in place they are ready to meet all the requirements of the IOC.

The real decission will be in the hands of the Belgian IOC president Jacques Rogge. Rogge leaves office in 2013 and he really wants to leave a legacy. The man succeeded with Beijing hosting a succesful games despite universal scepticism. What better legacy could Rogge leave than seeing South America win the right to host the Games for the first time.

More on the Rio 2016 website and the news section.

(more…)

Tags: rio2016

Contrary to Belgium, Brazil is already covered with high-quality satelite images on Google Maps/Earth.  Now Google announced that also Google Streetview is coming to Brazil.  You can follow it here on the Fiat Google Streetview partnership site.
Of course the privacy debate also lightened  up in Brazil, but Carlos Ximenes of Google Brasil guarantees that the same software will be used as in France, where number plates of cars will be barred.  On top of that the Brazilian system will allow users to immediately delete a screen-raster when privacy issues exist.

Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte (the home of Google Brazil) and Rio de Janeiro are the first cities to be covered.  Truly hope Florianopolis will also be added to the list.

Tags: Fiat, Google Streetview