Although much of the hype and propaganda about the 2010 World Cup’s impact on property in South Africa has been hot air, the event’s effect is now being felt – and there are indications that it will accelerate the recovery of the residential property sector, says Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank.

“Until recently many of us, I think, did not appreciate just how much exposure this World Cup event will give to South Africa – and, in particular, how widespread the TV coverage will be. However the draw in Cape Town opened our eyes to the long-term beneficial spin-offs of the event. We have to come to terms with the fact that no other event, not even the Olympic Games, is capable of pulling in 120 million to 150 million TV viewers as the World Cup is expected to do,” says Steward.

“What makes the World Cup so very different from previous major events staged by South Africa is not just the size of the operation, but also that it will expose South Africa to new categories of tourists (including businessmen and investors) who in the normal course of events would never think of visiting South Africa or consider it as an entrepreneurial opportunity.

“In the same way that Lance Armstrong’s successful involvement in the Tour de France publicised that country to many millions of North Americans for the first time, so here Europeans, Scandinavians, the British, South Americans, other Africans and Far Eastern people will for the first time in their lives be picking up new images and information about this part of the world.

“Although it is extremely unwise to predict rises in the property industry – as I see many are now beginning to do – what can be said with complete conviction is that the recovery is now a reality and that anyone buying South African residential property in the first half of 2010 will be entering the market before it takes off again,” says Steward.