Investing in Mauritius Property Investing in Mauritius Property | Page 10

THE
DEMAND
(investor perspective)
With an economy based on tourism and financial
services, Mauritius is considered a model of stability.
It has one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes, solid
ownership rights and a free and independent media.
It’s rated one of the top five prime property locations in
sub-Saharan Africa along with Cape Town and Sandton,
according to New World Wealth Mauritius Investment
Review.
By the end of 2015, there were 3,200 U.S. dollar
millionaires living in Mauritius — population 1.3 million
— with a combined net worth of $12 billion.
Most of the millionaires — about two thirds — come
from France and Southern Africa. Of the 1766 properties
sold in Mauritius to foreigners in the last 10 years, 44
percent were from France, 21.7 percent from South
Africa, and 8.9 percent from the U.K.
The property market is expected to grow 40 percent in
the next 10 years.
Investment returns from real estate in Africa’s rapidly
expanding economies significantly exceed those
achievable in almost all developed markets. Forecasts
of 20% net annual returns from investing in shopping
malls, office blocks or industrial complexes in countries
across Africa continue to draw in new investors.
Moody’s, the American credit rating agency has
predicted, in its new Banking System Brief that Mauritius
is expected to register a growth of 3.9% in 2018. This
figure proves that the island’s economy is thriving and
that it is trusted by foreign investors, whose numbers
are growing year in year out. This good trend is the
result of the great display of the tourism industry and
the foreign direct investment in the real estate sector.
Moody’s even states that the renegotiation of the
double treaty agreement between Port-Louis and New
Delhi will not affect the GDP growth.
For Moody’s, the government’s strategy as regards
to the diversification of the economy and given the
trend of the foreign direct investments coming from
Eastern and Asian countries will keep strengthening
the country’s economy. The Construction Industry
Development Board (CIDB) predicts that the growth
in the construction and real estate sector might reach
9.5% at the end of this year. This is regarded as a
realistic objective given that the investments in the
construction and real estate industries have registered in
2017 a growth of 6.8%.
The Mauritian government acknowledges Moody’s,
“maintains proactive policies that support growth and an
adaptive economy”. A welcomed compliment at a time where
Mauritius is trying hard to attract investors in unexplored
markets. A strategy which will no doubt be proved successful
in the long term and the opportunities in the Mauritian real
estate sector will gain visibility.