At the end of May, FIFA announced the 12 cities in Brazil that will host the 2014 World Cup. As well as causing great excitement to the locals, the tournament is expected by many to shine a spotlight on Brazil's property market, as images are beamed around the world.
For as well as major cities such as Sao Paolo and Rio, the locations chosen to host the World Cup include some of the fastest-growing tourist spots such as Natal, Fortaleza and Recife. They will experience an inflow of visitors in the run-up to the tournament, and property companies are seizing on the event as a reason to buy there now. Steve Worboys, Director of investment company Experience International, said: "With the FIFA World Cup being held in Brazil in 2014, and set to attract over 500,000 visitors from overseas, rental opportunities will abound and those buying land and real estate in the country should reap the rewards."
Tourism to Brazil has been growing rapidly; between 1995 and 2005 the number of tourists increased by 170 per cent, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, and it is now the 13th biggest destination in the world measured by revenue.
And the rapid pace of development in the country means that Brazil's real estate market has been holding up well so far. In the first quarter of 2009, Brazil was one of the handful of locations in the world that did not report a decline in property values, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) global study.
Natal, in north-eastern Brazil, has been the favourite spot among British investors to date. The city of Natal is in the state of Rio del Norte, and has a population of 800,000, but it is the hundreds of miles of adjacent coastline, largely palm-fringed and undeveloped, that provide the real draw. And Natal is also the closest part of Brazil to Europe, with a flying time of seven hours to Portugal.
The downside is that, for now, you can't fly direct. But that is expected to change with the development of a giant new airport in Natal which it is claimed will be the fourth biggest in the world – when it eventually opens. For now, prices are a snip compared to Portugal and Spain on this side of the Atlantic: apartments on tourist developments close to the sea can be purchased for as little as £40,000 £50,000.
Alexander Garrett is a freelance property writer who contributes regularly to The Observer and British Airways' Business Life.