However, analysts are now asking whether or not SA will again be able to pull ahead of the global pack and repeat the stellar achievements of the past few years.

The eagerly-awaited answer will be revealed on 31 March 2008, when the SAPOA/IPD (Investment Property Databank) Property Index 2007 will be launched in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.

SA distinguished itself in 2006, returning the second-highest overall property returns of all the countries surveyed by the IPD, at 26.7 percent. It was pipped to the post by Ireland – and only by a single percentage point.

The previous year, SA was the only market that achieved total returns in excess of 30 percent.

Could 2007 figures point to lower performances over the past 12 months? Is this the year that the market starts to contract or have returns held up? “We’ll have to wait and see what the results indicate”, says IPD SA Managing Director Stan Garrun.

He believes that the sector and investors will be watching two key outcomes.

“The first is: what will the level of 2007 performance be and how will the different sectors of the market (retail, office, industrial) fare? And the second is: can SA maintain its status in the global rankings?”

The property investment sector in Johannesburg will hear the results over breakfast at the Park Hyatt hotel that morning, while cocktails at the Mount Nelson hotel will provide the backdrop for the Cape Town results presentation.

The launch will take the opportunity to showcase a number of specialist speakers, including respected FNB property strategist John Loos, who will be attending both functions. RMB Properties’ CEO Warren Schultze and Cape Town general manager Martin Rippon will weigh in on the sector’s performance in Johannesburg and Cape Town, respectively.

As Garrun points out, nowhere is SA’s international reputation for high performing Real Estate reflected more clearly than in the annual IPD index.

“IPD, in partnership with the SA property market started to measure and benchmark investment returns in 1995. This is our 13th year of tracking the sector,” he adds.

Based in London, England IPD currently publishes indices for 22 countries worldwide, covering the performance of more than 57,000 properties with a capital value of €800 billion.