"[W]e find the bulk of the demand is for UK — specifically London — homes, comprising approximately 90 percent of all the enquiries for residential property abroad which we receive from our South African clients," says Collett.

"We have investigated markets in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol and Oxford, but these areas tend to appeal only to those with local knowledge or with offspring at the universities there, and ultimately, well situated central London property still comes out tops among our local buyers."

SA not interest in eastern Europe

Collett says while the much hyped markets in the former Eastern bloc countries of Croatia and now Bulgaria are attractive to European purchasers, PGP has experienced little appetite from South African investors for these emerging markets.

"The appeal for euro investors is that they are about to be accepted into the European Union, although resale of these properties has yet to prove their investor confidence," he says.

Commenting on the London property market, Dr Andrew Golding, CE of the PGP says: "Historically London is probably the best known and most visited city for South Africans, many of whom have family or friends there, and residential property yields good returns in the medium to long term (five to seven years)."

He adds that it is "perceived as a stable market", with an undersupply of housing in the central city.

2012 Games coming up

"London is one of the two most important financial capitals in the world and as such, the market is fuelled by big city bonuses and corporate profits. While there is close correlation with the performance of the prime housing market and the wealth creation of the city, at the top end of the market, another key source of demand for property in London is from international buyers, with a strong demand from those in Europe and the Middle East ... London is the Olympic host city for the 2012 Games," he says.

Collett says another interesting trend is that the profile of South African investors in London has changed over the past six to eight years.

Initially these were high net worth individuals with money sitting in an offshore account, earning very little interest, who started purchasing when the London market started to recover in late 1999. These were mostly people in the 45 to 60 year age group who were involved with offshore businesses and had accumulated funds in the United States or the eurozone, and some expatriates living in the UK also re-entered the market at this time.

Other countries of interest for South Africans include New Zealand, the Bahamas, Florida, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, France and Greece.