2011 Investments Show Third Worst Stock Market Performance Since 1994 — Real Estate, Gold lead

The only investments to end
the year in negative territory were shares listed on the São Paulo Stock
Exchange (Bovespa,) finishing with a loss of 18.11% for the year. Exchanges
worldwide fared little better. The Dow Jones Global Index, a composite of
exchanges worldwide, finished with a loss of 15.64%

Economic consulting firm Economatica of São Paulo, released a compilation of performance
figures  for 2011 showing that
equity securities were one of the few asset classes to lose ground.

The study listed the
following results for various asset classes for 2011:

Gold 16,46%

Dollar 11,84%

Euro  8,64%

Savings 7.5%

Bovespa    -18.11%

The survey, appearing in Epocá
Magazine, does not mention Real Estate, by any reckoning a major asset class.

Measured by the fipe-ZAP
index, real estate prices rose on average 24.9% during 2011 through the end of
November. This index has been incorporated in official statistics of
econometric data used by the Brazilian government.

Zap is a partnership
between O Estado de São Paulo, Brazil´s newspaper of Record and all its related
publications both print and online, and Rede Globo, a media conglomerate with
radio, television, cable, and newspaper properties all through Brazil. The two
media juggernauts account for more than 90,000 classified ads per month for the
sale of property of all types in all locations throughout Brazil. Fipe-Zap is a
partnership of partnerships, being a collaboration of ZAP with The Foundation
Institute of Economic Research (Fipe,) an economic think tank.

Though the figures reflect
asking prices only for apartments and houses for sale throughout Brazil, and
specific types of property in specified locations, the universe of data is
sufficiently broad to give a good indication of trends across all types of
property and all locations throughout Brazil.

Despite the high rate of
growth there seems to be no letup in sight, at least not in the near term,
according to financial market observers like Forbes. In a recent analysis
Forbes wrote that the housing market boom should continue through 2017 http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2011/12/14/brazil-housing-market-booming-til-2017/. Interestingly, Forbes featured in its analysis
Fortaleza residential properties. 

Residential properties in Fortaleza, Ceará, a northeast state in Brazil
and home to one of the FIFA World Cup games in 2014.