2010 World cup soccer - A property marketing opportunity for South Africa

After the euphoria of winning the bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, 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 this major sporting event will be a massive boost to our economy and it is expected that almost R 30 billion will flow into South Africa, spurring economic growth to 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 buoyant. 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 Word 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 an Olympic Games or World Cup encourages urban regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in facilities, transport links and overall infrastructure. Yet, a closer look at the lessons of the Olympic Games hosted in Athens means a lot of work needs to be done - especially in marketing South Africa as a destination.

There is a lot to be learned from the Greek Olympic experience on how best to sell South Africa as a desirable country and etch ourselves into the minds of tourists and investors for a long time to come. Greece did not fully capitalize on the Olympics to promote itself and its property market to the extent that former Olympic host cities Barcelona and Sydney did - and lost out on some of the benefits of hosting a major international event.

Perhaps they were a bit complacent and thought just because they