South Africans in all sectors must now work together to ensure that this opportunity is fully utilized for the long-term benefit of the entire country. Hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup will be a massive boost to our economy and it is expected that almost R 30 billion will flow into South Africa, projecting economic growth to go up between 5 and 6 percent, while creating an estimated 150 000 jobs. The impact on the property market will be enormous.South Africa is currently enjoying a strong position and consumer confidence is high. International buyers, locals and expatriates are major buyers of South African properties.
The property market will do well to use the 2010 Soccer World Cup as a platform to aggressively market property in South Africa, which is still undervalued in global terms and offer exceptional value for money.
South African property is likely to receive a major boost from 2010 - if the World Cup is a success. Paris "France" property prices escalated by as much as 55% over a one year period before and after the 2002 World Cup and property across the city made astronomical gains with the prices of apartments close to some of the stadiums rocketing by over 100% over the same period .
Some neglected neighborhoods in Paris were completely rejuvenated. The same will happen in South Africa, because although we have had a good run, in global terms our property is still undervalued and the macroeconomic outlook is very favorable.
Hosting a World Cup encourages urban regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in facilities, transport links and overall infrastructure. A lot of more work needs to be done - especially in marketing South Africa as a destination.
We need to sell South Africa as a desirable country so that we as South Africans will stick into the minds of tourists and investors for a long time to come. We must capitalize on the fact that we are hosting the Soccer World Cup, to promote our country and its property as we do not want to lose out on some of the benefits of hosting a major international event.
The key is that we need to make ourselves outsider investor friendly and strongly promote ourselves through a fantastic marketing effort as a great place to buy a second home. This can result into massive job creation and social upliftment through increased tourism and a very favorable country perception.
Just think if South Africa could increase its visitors by tens of millions a year, we would have an incredible success story for job and wealth creation. When Sydney hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, they pushed not just Sydney as a city but the whole of Australia as a desirable place to tour, live and own property. There was a unified strategy between the government, the tourist board and the property industry.
In South Africa we can´t afford to just promote the cities that will host World Cup Soccer games. We also need to promote the true spirit of South Africa as a highly desirable investment friendly and stable country. Well planned government expenditure aimed at local regeneration will give impetus to host cities in creating a more suitable and attractive inner-city environment - that´s because public infrastructure that would otherwise have taken years to complete due to red tape will now be fast-tracked.
For example, the R 20-billion Gautrain high-speed service between Johannesburg and Pretoria will certainly be completed in time for the 2010 World Cup, creating a wealth corridor and increased property values across both
cities.
2010 is also having an effect on building costs. Many building contractors are holding out for money spinning 2010 World Cup contracts, creating a shortage of builders. However, most of the benefits from hosting this event come in the form of multiplier effects of each rand spent on all goods and services in the economy leading up to, during and after the event. The increased health of the economy will have the biggest overall effect on property prices.
