| Could the left's victories in recent Latin | | | | this week (see published by the Global |
| American elections pose a serious threat to | | | | Property Guide. |
| foreign property buyers? | | | | |
| | | | Property markets in many Latin American |
| President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela openly | | | | countries are doing well. Except in |
| tolerates property rights violations. In | | | | Venezuela, the newly elected socialist |
| Altos Mirandinos, 683 'property invasions' | | | | governments seem relatively benign, and |
| were recorded in 2005 in which houses were | | | | unlikely to pose much of a threat to property |
| simply seized by squatters. | | | | investors. |
| | | | |
| Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous | | | | Some countries are even seeing real estate |
| president, and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, have | | | | booms. Nicaragua, Argentina and Uruguay offer |
| both expressed strong admiration for Chavez, | | | | high yields and good location, at |
| who has promised to transform Venezuela from | | | | significantly lower prices than in developed |
| a capitalist to a socialist state. | | | | countries. |
| | | | |
| With the re-election of Chavez and Lula da | | | | "The political pendulum swings one way, then |
| Silva in Brazil, and the victories of Correa | | | | it swings another," says Matthew Pollock, |
| in Ecuador and Evo Morales in Bolivia, Latin | | | | publisher of the Global Property Guide. |
| America has moved firmly to the left. | | | | "These leftist victories are temporary. When |
| | | | President Bush, goes the world will breathe |
| Other leftist presidents include Michelle | | | | easier, and tensions will ease everywhere." |
| Bachelet (Chile), Alan Garcia (Peru), Daniel | | | | |
| Ortega (Nicaragua), Nestor Kirchner | | | | "The outlook for residential property in |
| (Argentina), Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay). | | | | Latin America remains very positive, |
| | | | especially as Latin America increasingly |
| Yet despite the sweeping victories of the | | | | obtains access to US markets, and as the |
| left, neither Morales nor Correa are as | | | | circle of countries in which US retirees are |
| extreme as Chavez, notes a new report out | | | | willing to settle widens. |