How to pay my rent ? Luanda is in the throes of a property boom that makes London's housing gyrations of recent years look pedestrian. Prime office space in the centre of the city overlooking the bay sells for about $6,500 per square metre. Rents are just as eye-popping. A fairly average flat rented by an expatriate businessman costs between $12,000 and $15,000 a month. "It's higher than in Tokyo or New York," as one of the highest rental markets in the world. Such costs are prohibitive even for some businesses hoping to take advantage of Angola's booming economy, expected to grow this year at 20-30 per cent. "Clients who come from South Africa look at the prices of opening up an office and say 'Whoa! This is expensive' Not withstanding their unofficial status as most favoured business partners, the Chinese too are feeling the pinch. For their office/quarters is about $10,000 a month. "The cost is too crazy" The boom is a simple matter of supply and demand. Angola exported nearly $30bn of oil in 2007, a bonanza for a country with a population of 14m-17m people. As production has increased, so has the number of expatriate workers. And yet the heavily congested capital, whose population has swelled from about 600,000 at independence in 1975 to more than 4m today, has only a strip of property that most expatriates would consider suitable. As for Angola's tiny middle class, which is just starting to emerge, they are priced out of the market.
Great about and wonderful street portrait. The colors and the smile say it all. I have not traveled much so it is a real treat to see the world through others eyes. Be well, Stan
I remember the stories about this before, its just amazing with prices and houses, we are so lucky to live at the other side of the world, just by accident!! This lady is really looking happy with this great smiley face:)) Lovely colours and great details my dear!
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{K:35352} 7/3/2008
