The 2010 World Cup won’t boost the country’s sagging property prices, but sexy Cape Town pads are likely to get the biggest fillip from the global event.

This is according to the result of a poll by Propertygenie, South Africa’s largest online search property portal.

Johan Strydom, Managing Executive of Propertygenie, South Africa’s leading property listings website, said that 59 percent of people surveyed believed that next year’s tournament would not boost property prices, while 41 percent of people said it would.

"The results are interesting as they reflect the current view of South Africans. But as there hasn’t been a sporting event of this magnitude in SA, people may be pleasantly surprised by the positive effect it will have on our economy and hence house prices.

"Other countries that have hosted events like the Olympics and the Football World Cup have experienced strong growth in their property markets."

Strydom acknowledges that the world faces tough economic times at present, but he expects the global economy to be in better shape in time for kick off.

When quizzed on the reasons why the World Cup would not spur house prices, 27 percent of respondents said that it was because local house prices were now too expensive, 20 percent said South Africa was not the best place to buy property while 19 percent of people pointed to the global credit crunch.

Eighteen percent said that the World Cup would not attract enough people to have a positive impact while 16 percent noted that South Africa’s weak economy would nullify any boost from the World Cup.

The poll also asked people which kind of properties they thought would benefit most in price from the World Cup if any: 32 percent gave sexy Cape Town pads the nod, followed by beach houses countrywide (27 percent), lock up an go apartments countrywide (26 percent), wine farms (two percent) and game farms (one percent).

Twelve percent of people said that no properties would benefit.

"People still see Cape Town as having the biggest pull for property investors and tourists alike," said Strydom.

"It is true that Cape Town has been very popular with overseas buyers and the World Cup will introduce a whole lot of new people to the beauty of South Africa.

"However, according to recent research by property valuers Lightstone, only 0.5 percent of SA property is in foreign hands so much of the historical rise in prices has been driven by South Africans. And that’s likely to be the case in the future too."

The Propertygenie poll was carried out online and canvassed the views of 703 people countrywide.

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