The 2010 FIFA World Cup thrust South Africa right to the forefront of the world’s media for all the right reasons, but how has such exposure affected the nation from an investor’s perspective? Interestingly, the biggest housing market boom of all took place between 1997 and 2006, when average values rocketed by an astonishing 350 per cent. This kind of pace couldn’t be maintained, but shrinkage in the meantime has been minimal and the temporary spike from the 2010 World Cup registered no more than a blip. So, what’s left is a South Africa where property values are stable, rental yields as high as 13 per cent aren’t uncommon in Johannesburg and holiday lettings are very big business in Cape Town.