The latest research by Sothebyis International Realty shows that even a tiny studio loft in Greenwich Village now costs around $290 000 or about R1,9-million while a three-bedroom wharfside beauty in London will set you back about P1,75-million or just about R22-million.

If it is a penthouse you're after, you could pick up a 316sqm unit in Jerusalem now for the equivalent of R10,5-million, or perhaps a three-bedroom apartment with a view of Sydney harbour for R46-million. And if you fancy a little home-from-home in Europe, how about a two-bedroom loft in Barcelona for R17-million, or perhaps a Paris apartment on the sought-after Avenue Foch for just over R19-million?

By contrast, you can buy a luxury two-bedroom loft with harbour or mountain views in Cape Town for around R3-million, or a two-storey penthouse in Durban's new Point waterfront area for R4,5-million, or a spacious apartment in one of Sandton's new high-fashion high-rises for around R15-million.

These figures are very telling, says Lew Geffen, chairman of Sothebyis International Realty in SA.

They reveal why so many local investors, who might have been expected to respond to the strengthening of the rand by buying property abroad, are accumulating portfolios of South African properties instead.

And that accounts, to a large extent, for the continued buoyancy in the upper sector of our residential property market although foreign buying is still an important factor.

Serious property investors, Geffen notes, have an increasingly global vision, and now often go comparative shopping to find the market they believe offers the best value for money and the best prospects for good returns. And our own research, done along the same lines, now shows why South Africa is such a popular choice at the moment among foreign as well as locally-based investors.

From the point of view of a US investor, for example, the 20-room mansion in the plush Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park that is being marketed by Sotheby is International Realty for the equivalent of $3,3-million may well be a more attractive purchase than the 15-room Park Avenue triplex in New York that is on the company's books for $28-million.

Similarly, an Australian investor may consider that an estate home on KwaZulu-Natalis north coast that costs the equivalent of Au$3,5-million is a better buy than a similar four-bedroom home on Sydneyis Palm Beach that costs Au$4,58-million, while a European buyer in search of a coastal property is now quite likely to choose a large Atlantic Seaboard home in Cape Town that costs the equivalent of E2,1-million over a similar home on Portugalis Algarve that costs E3,2-million. And for a South African investor, a seven-bedroom home in a Hartebeespoort estate that costs R5,5-million will almost certainly have more appeal financially, at least than a similar home on Corfu that costs the equivalent of R36,5-million.