“There’s No Funny Money Here”: Investment Migration People In The News This Week

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Investment migration people in the news this week included:

• Christopher Willis of Latitude
• Manuel Alvarez of RE/MAX Portugal
• David Lesperance of Lesperance & Associates
• Dominic Volek and Peter Ferrigno of Henley & Partners
• Mathieu Duez and Christophe Piquet of Heritage Villas Valriche
• Jerome Durand Deslongrais of Anahita

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Fortune – Golden Visa chasers helped pump $4.2 billion into Portuguese property last year—scrapping the scheme probably won’t help locals get on the housing ladder

Christopher Willis, managing director at Latitude Consultancy, a citizenship and residency advisor, said the scrapping of the Golden Visa was almost certain to have an impact on last year’s headline FDI figure of $4.2 billion.

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Willis says foreign buyers in Portugal were operating at a different end of the market compared with those who were struggling to afford a home. 

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“It wasn’t a direct competition. It wasn’t someone looking for a two-up two-down somewhere in Portugal,” Willis said. 

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“The Portuguese residential market has been affected by a lack of housing supply,” said Manuel Alvarez, regional director at RE/MAX Portugal. 

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“The final prices of properties have been stabilizing, with slight fluctuations, due to decreased market demand stemming from the chronic problem of insufficient construction, particularly for the lower-middle class.”

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CCN – Roger Ver Arrest May Have Followed Bad Advice, Top Crypto Lawyer Says

CCN recently spoke with crypto and extradition legal expert David Lesperance, about the case.

Ver renounced his American citizenship in 2014 and acquired citizenship through investment in Saint Kitts and Nevis . Lesperance explained the criteria for determining if someone is a “covered expatriate” includes having more than $2 million in worldwide assets or meeting specific federal tax obligations over the previous five years. Ver met the asset threshold, which meant he had to pay some American taxes.

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Lesperance said such cases, including Ver’s, are not primarily about cryptocurrency or political stances, despite public perceptions or Ver’s self-identification as a libertarian . He stressed that at its core, this is a straightforward case of tax evasion, unrelated to any beliefs or the involvement of crypto.

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He contrasted this with potentially detrimental behaviors, such as antagonizing the judge or portraying oneself as a victim of a so-called “deep state”. This could have a negative impact on the judge’s perception and, consequently, the sentence. Lesperance emphasized the effectiveness of a more controlled and respectful approach. This exemplified by the likes of jailed Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. Despite Zhao’s a strong personality, Lesperance said he was able to maintain a level of decorum that likely served him well in court.

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Artnet – On the Hunt for New Collectors, Asian Dealers Are Increasingly Looking West

Meanwhile, there has been a wave migration of both people and wealth from Asia—most notably from Hong Kong and mainland China—to Singapore and the West, which has been widely reported in the media. David Lesperance, a Poland-based consultant who specializes in helping ultra-high-net-worth individuals relocate, told me that he has received a jump in inquiries from Chinese clients over the past five years. His business in the area is booming. Christie’s recently reported growth in the number of U.S.-based Asian buyers purchasing Chinese works of art. At the beginning of this month, Frieze’s No. 9 Cork Street space in London saw the openings of pop-up shows by three galleries from the Asia-Pacific region.

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CNBC Africa – Africa: Where to find investment opportunities for high net-worth individuals

Despite challenges such as inflation and depreciating currencies, Africa still remains an attractive investment destination, with plenty of opportunities for wealthy individuals looking to invest their money. Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners joins CNBC Africa for more.

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The Telegraph – How a non-dom shake-up risks triggering ‘a second Brexit moment’

As Peter Ferrigno, director of tax services at Henley & Partners points out, that regime is more attractive the more you earn.

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“If you earn €250,000 a year it’s around a 40pc tax rate, the same as the UK average rate. But if you earn a million euros a year, it’s a 10pc tax rate. Italy is definitely attractive from that perspective.”

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Business Insider Africa – African countries projected to gain the most rich people

The number of High Net Worth Individuals in Africa is on the rise. However, a report by Henley and Partners notes that a large chunk of these people are leaving the continent.

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“According to our latest figures, approximately 18,700 high-net-worth individuals have left Africa over the past decade (2013 to 2023). There are currently 54 African-born billionaires in the world, including one of the world’s richest, Elon Musk, but only 21 of them still live on the continent. Most of these individuals have relocated to the UK, the USA, Australia, and the UAE. Significant numbers have also moved to France, Switzerland, Monaco, Portugal, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel,” Andrew Amoils, the Head of Research at New World Wealth, stated.

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The Times – Why Brits are moving to Mauritius

“If you opt to rent out your villa, you have to make the villa available to rent in high season, so it’s incentivising people to live here rather than diving straight into renting it out,” says Mathieu Duez, the communication and marketing officer at Heritage Villas Valriche.

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“There’s no funny money here,” Duez says. All property transactions are CRS (Common Reporting Standard)-checked, a G20-backed tax evasion standard. “It takes 24 hours to buy a property in Dubai — here it’s the same as the UK, so it takes about two to three months.”

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Christophe Piquet, the sales manager at the community, says: “With only a three-hour time difference between us and the UK, there is no jet lag when you travel here, and that also makes working from here easier too.”

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The golf course’s modern mansions are about 2,000 sq m, but in Beau Champ there are 170 sq m to 190 sq m flats starting from $400,000. Three to five-bedroom villas are on sale from $890,000. Jerome Durand Deslongrais, the property sales manager at Anahita, says: “It’s more laid-back and serene than what we’ve done before, for people who want to be closer to nature and have a nice quality home but nothing fancy.”

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“We don’t want to be like Singapore or Mumbai,” Durand Deslongrais says. “Authentic to us means peace and being surrounded by nature. We want people to want to be here enjoying the island for what it is.”