Andrew Stegmann

Buying Property In Mauritius: What’s The Big Attraction?

Mauritius real estate foreign buyers. Source: New World Wealth

Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust Mara Delta just announced a new hospitality acquisition plan in Mauritius.

Negotiations are underway for Mara Delta to acquire a 45 percent interest in three hotels owned by Mauritius stock exchange-listed New Mauritius Hotels Ltd, Africa Property News reported.

This follows another deal, concluded earlier in October with Mara Delta acquiring the Tamassa Resort for $40 million in Bel Ombre, Southwestern Mauritius, through a sale and leaseback agreement.

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.
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