With thousands of kilometers of golden beaches and temperatures ranging from 25 to 30 degrees all year long, the Brazilian North East is a major attraction for international investors and investors from the more advanced South of the country such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Till now, what the North East has lacked in substructure compared with Southern Brazil, it has more than made up for in cultural and touristic prospects. Nevertheless with the winning World Cup football bid for 2014 and forthcoming 2016 Olympic Games a full $1 Trillion has been swore to expand Brazil’s framework, including a powerful contribution going to the North East.

Local and central government are developing initiative after initiative to fuel the growth of the tourism sector and attract foreign investment. As Brazils popularity has increased so have the opportunities for overseas buyers to invest in the Brazilian real estate market. Buy-to-let investors are racing to invest in building plots, new-build apartments and forgotten fazendas in need of some TLC.

Yet while many foreign investors in Brazil are looking directly overseas for their customer base, they can easily overlook the national market at their hazard.

A recent survey undertaken by the IFEP focuses right in the heart of the North Eastern tourism zone in Joo Pessoa, state capital of Paraba. The study shows that by far the majority of visitors to the North East are themselves Brazilian, and a large proportion of those are holiday-makers from the core cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia. In fact, of the sample interviewed in Joo Pessoa during a two-week period in January 2010, only 4.48% came from outside the country.

The visitor base to the North East is formed largely of the expanding Brazilian middle class, whose rising salaries are opening up new horizons for travel and investment outside their home cities. In January 2010 40% of tourists to Joo Pessoa chose to stay in hotels, however the remaining 60% elected to stay in various types of alternative accommodation, including self-catering apart-hotels and rental apartments, demonstrating the excellent opportunities for overseas buyers in Brazilian investment property.

With tourism numbers on the increase, property owners in Joo Pessoa are seeing a dramatic rise in returns on their Brazilian investment properties. Joo Pessoa is renowned for its 12-month tourist season with holiday rental property capable of generating extremely high rental yields.

With a powerful internal market as well as demand from overseas property investors development firms are expanding the second home market in the North East. With the rapid growth of the Brazilian middle class, who have an appetite for 1st and 2nd home ownership, investors now have many more exit strategies.

This article was written by Ginny Naish, Marketing Director of Brazil Property Administration, a Brazilian property consultancy based in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba. The consultancy provides advice with regard to cost analysis , development strategy , property management and masterplanning . www.brazilpropertyadministration.com