Boa Vista Real Estate, Cape Verde: Sal Rei and Resorts

Boa Vista is a large island, yet almost all of its urban life is concentrated in one town: Sal Rei. Beyond it lie long beaches, a handful of villages and hotel complexes spread far apart. For a buyer, this layout is decisive. The address determines access to services, the kind of tenant you can expect and how many people could buy the property from you later.

This guide explains how to read that particular market: where supply is concentrated, which demand a property actually serves, what to check before buying into a tourist complex, what the law requires for holiday letting, and how the island differs from Sal.

Sal Rei or the rest of the island: where is the market?

Most residential sales take place in Sal Rei and its neighbourhoods, such as Estoril and Cabral, where shops, schools and services are found. Elsewhere, supply mainly consists of units in isolated beach complexes and village houses. These are two very different products and should be assessed separately.

• Sal Rei, on the west coast: the main town and port, home to the island’s everyday life and to most apartments and houses aimed at residents.
• Rabil, near the airport: a more local settlement worth considering for year-round use.
• The west and south coast, from Chaves beach to Santa Mónica: a shoreline shaped by hotels and tourist developments, often some distance from town.
• Inland and eastern villages such as Bofareira, João Galego or Fundo das Figueiras: traditional housing, limited services and a very thin market.

If you are focused on an apartment in town, our dedicated guide to buying in Sal Rei walks through viewings neighbourhood by neighbourhood. This article looks at the island as a whole.

Tourist market or local housing need: who is your property for?

Two kinds of demand exist side by side on Boa Vista. Visitors drawn by the beaches and hotels book a few nights at a time. Residents and workers, many employed in tourism, look for stable housing close to their jobs. The same property rarely serves both groups well.

An apartment in a coastal complex may appeal to holidaymakers but is impractical for an employee without a car who works in town. A plain home in Sal Rei, on the other hand, meets steadier local demand without commanding a sea-view nightly rate. Decide which audience you are targeting first, then look for the property that fits it, not the other way round.

Which access and services should you check before buying?

Outside Sal Rei, take nothing for granted. Check the road to the property in every season, the actual water and electricity connection, rubbish collection, internet and the real distance to shops, healthcare and the airport. In an isolated complex, also ask who provides each of these services.

• Access: tarmac road or dirt track, risk of sand drifts, real travel time to Sal Rei and to the airport.
• Utilities: individual meter or supply provided by the complex, reliability of water, presence of a storage tank.
• Everyday services: shops, pharmacy, health centre, school, and whether cleaning or maintenance staff can get there.
• Reliance on an operator: if the complex runs security, water or the pool, what happens if it scales back?
• Actual neighbours: how many units are occupied out of season, and how many are still under construction?

Buying in a tourist complex or condominium: what should you read?

An apartment in a complex is a unit within a propriedade horizontal, the condominium regime now governed by Lei n.º 57/X/2025. Before signing, read the constitutive deed, the registry status, the occupancy authorisation, the service-charge budget and, if there is one, the contract binding owners to a tourism operator.

• Does the constitutive deed describe your unit and its relative value in line with the approved project?
• Was the complex still under construction when the condominium was set up? If so, has the provisional registration been converted into a definitive one now that works are finished?
• Does the occupancy authorisation cover your unit? For a single unit, the law requires the common areas to be fit for use as well.
• What do the common charges and the building insurance cover? Ask for the latest accounts and the minutes of owners’ meetings.
• Is there a hotel management contract? Read its term, the share of income paid to owners, the periods when you may use the unit yourself and the exit conditions.

Can you do short-term rentals on Boa Vista?

Yes, under the alojamento complementar regime set by Decreto-Lei n.º 56/2024, which is the same across the country. Registration and a licence are required before any advert, and each establishment receives a number followed by an island code, “BV” for Boa Vista. Inside a complex, two points deserve particular attention.

First, a property that meets the conditions of an empreendimento turístico cannot be run as alojamento complementar, so ask which regime the complex operates under before planning to let your unit individually. Second, in a building divided into units, the floor area used for these rentals is capped at 50% of the total, a ceiling that can rise to 75% only by formal decision of a registered condominium. The law also provides for licence quotas per island, set by portaria; no published quota has been verified so far.

How does Boa Vista differ from Sal for a buyer?

Sal has two hubs, Santa Maria for tourism and Espargos for daily life, and more comparable properties. Boa Vista relies on a single town and scattered complexes, at a calmer pace. The law is identical, but reselling usually takes more patience and a closer reading of each location.