The Vinlanda projects Le Jardin & Moradas da Ilha were featured in Diario Catarinense, Santa Catarina’s biggest newspaper.
The official launch event for both projects is foreseen in March, at which the new project Maresias in Cacupe will also be presented. Yet today only 1 unit remains for sale in Le Jardin and 2 in Moradas da Ilha.

Both Le Jardin & Moradas da Ilha are located in Santa Monica, a priveleged neighborhood of Santa Monica.

Tags: casa le jardin, moradas da ilha

Brazil’s property market is set to become one of the hottest markets in 2010.  The country is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, its foreign direct investment has increased and Brazil will host the 2014 soccer Worldcup and the 2016 Olympic Games, which will bring a boost in infrastructure.

Brazil property specialist, Colordarcy, has see Brazilian property enquiries raise by 60% since the Olympic announcement.  The company has responded by launching a consultancy service to help clients to source the best real estate deals in Rio de Janeiro. Loxley McKenzie, CEO of Colordarcy predicts an annual increase of 20% pzer annum until the Olympics of 2016.

Mortgages will soon be available to international buyers and this will create a further boost to Brazil’s property market.

The US real estate Tycoon Sam Zell focused a great deal of his 2008 and 2009 on Brazil after his disastrous buyout of Tribune Co; amongst other Zell bought a 19% stake in the Brazilian Gafisa SA.
Indeed, the mortgage to GDP ration in Brazil stands at 3% today (zee below graph to compare with other countries)..  Zell thinks this needs to be in double digits, adding that this could happen within 3 to 5 years.  In Mexico that figure now stans around 12%; Zell thinks within 3 years the Brazilian mortgage/GDP ratio will grow to the same level as Mexico.

Tags: brazilian mortgages, Samm zell brazil

The Washington Post features an excellent article on Petrobras and its five-year, $ 174 billion initiatie to provide rights, vessels, drilling systems and oil platforms to drill up billions of barrels of oil.
Brazil was still an oil importer five years ago, it became today a net oil exporter (Brazil is completely self-sufficient in both oil and electricity).
José Sergio Gabrielli,, Petrobras’ president said last week “It’s going to change the role of Brazil in the geopolitics of oil”. By 2020, Brazil will produce 3,9 million barrels a day. The Brazilian proven oil reserves would rise form 14,4 billion barrels to more than 30 billion barrels; this puts Brazil in the same league as major oil exporters as Qatar, Kazahstan and Nigeria.

Read the full article here.

Tags: petrobras 2020

Brazil is already gifted with more than 85% of its electricity coming from hydro plants, to sustain its further growth for energy it is, next to opening new hydro plans, also tapping into wind-energy.  The country is very well positioned towards wind energy, especially in the Northern part of the country.

French power equipment and train company Alstom SA announced a plan to install a wind-turbine assembly plant in Brazil.
The assembly plant will be installed in Bahia and it ploans to invest around EUR 20 million in a plant to assemble up to 300 megawatts of wind-generation capacity a year.

Alstom´s Philippe Cochet, who heads the group´s wind-power operations, said the company´s announcement “confirms its strategy in the region and its aim to become a key player in the Brazilian wind market.”

The new wind turbine assembly facility could start operating in early 2011, Alstom said.

Of course, the above  is no coincidence, Alstom is also in the running with Siemens for the bullet train Rio – Sao Paulo.
The same Siemsn by the way, which is also turning its eyes to the massive wind energy potential in Brazil, by producing wind turbines locally.

And now that we are in the Copenhagen mood: Brazil is working with UNDP on a massive CFC-elimination project:

Tags: alstom wind energy brazil, UNDP brazil CFC

People seem to have a misconception about the buying power in Brazil; especially in the rich thriving cities like Curitibia, Porto Alegre, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Florianopolis.
A new study reveals that Sao Paulo is the 3d most expensive city in the world, with only Oslo and Copenhagen proceeding it.
The study was based on product price comparisons of 26 products in 33 countries.
Shockingly enough there is no American city at all on the list.

Here’s the ranking:

1. Oslo, Norway
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Sao Paulo, Brasil
4. Paris, France
5. Reykjavik, Iceland
6. Stockholm, Sweden
7. Helsinki, Finland
8. Dublin, Ireland
9. Sydney, Australia
10. Rome, Italy
11. Tokyo, Japan
12. Amsterdam, Netherlands
13. Vienna, Austria
14. Brussels, Belgium
15. Berlin, Germany
16. Cape Town, South Africa

And Sao Paulo does indeed have spending power (not even referring to Campinas).  Just go a night out in Sao Paulo, you’ll be surprised by the sheer size of the Paulista Jeunesse Dorée.

Tags: sao paulo cost of living