Many estate agents in South Africa are confident about the sustainability of the South Africa property market post 2010 football World Cup.
Adrian Goslett, regional director and CEO of RE/MAX Southern Africa, says that the country's staging of the global football event has improved perceptions about the country abroad and this has translated into greater interest in owning homes in South Africa. This is in spite of the fact that foreign sales in the four months ended September 2010 constituted less than two per cent of the group's sales.
Goslett told the press: "We think it's fairly early to gauge the level of foreign interest in our property portfolio after the World Cup. We are hopeful however that in the next two to three years, foreign buyers particularly from the UK, Europe and the US will start making some moves towards our shores."
Dr Andrew Golding, CEO of the Pam Golding Property Group, agrees that overseas interest in the South Africa property market has improved.
Golding commented: "Each month over 200,000 visits to [our] website, from over 190 countries around the globe, result in more than 455,000 property searches.
"Directly after the [football] event we noticed a surge in interest from overseas, with the greatest interest - after South African buyers - from Holland, then from the UK, USA, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Australia, France, Mauritius, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates," he added.