Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April 2014 | Page 60

MAURITIUS

BY NEALE PETERSEN

Life on the Indian Ocean
An island of lifestyle and business

I

n this edition we will be covering the competitive
platforms that Mauritius offers in investing in
land and property as well as the costs, the processes
in starting up a business, getting residency, as well as
moving capital in and out of Mauritius.

financial returns, capital growth, rental yields, tax
advantages, the benef its of buying property, the
advantages to set up a new business base, accessibility
and technology.

There are a lot of things for an investor to consider
when buying property offshore and reasons for
investing in a particular country vary according to
whether your reasons are for lifestyle or investment
return. Mauritius has the reputation of a pure
lifestyle investment however, on closer inspection the
opportunity to invest in a property and to enjoy the
lifestyle as well the opportunity to start a business are
lucrative in this part of the world.

Land area:
2 040km
Population:
1 291 456
Official language:
English
Capital:
Port Louis
GDP Growth:
3,9%
Unemployment: 7,9%
Currency: Mauritian Rupee
(MUR)
Exchange rate:
MUR 0,33 to R1

(*This fluctuates)

Rob Hudson of Hayes Matkovich property experts
in Mauritius says, “Mauritius has always attracted
the lifestyle investor who wanted capital gain returns
however, recently there has been more interest in
investors setting up businesses in Mauritius after they
bought their property.”
Lifestyle property investors tend to use softer issues
to measure how and where to invest and use available
quality of life scorecards to compare with other
countries in terms of international living standards.
Some of the key areas for a lifestyle investor to consider
include the type of property, weather, location, cost of
living, security, population density, healthcare services,
language, political stability and residency.
Seasoned property investors tend to focus on more
measurable issues such as price of property, economy,
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April 2014 SA Real Estate Investor

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KEY FACTS ON MAURITIUS

Buying property in Mauritius
The big advantage of buying property in Mauritius is
that you can buy in any currency of choice although
property prices are in $USD. The big advantage of
that is that investors already get a return on hedging
their property in US dollars currency against the poor
performance of the depreciating rand.
For example Villa Valriche properties sold for
$700 000 in 2010 and now the same properties are
selling in excess of $1, 5 million while in La Balise
the new prestige developed marina in Black River on
the West coast have already given investors 10 – 20%
annual returns depending on what type of property and
exactly where you invested.
Timo Geldenhuys Sales Director for Villa Valriche
and La Belise based in Mauritius says, “not all lifestyle
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