Johannesburg - FIFA's claims in 2009 that host cities were short of about 50 000 beds each for the World Cup tournament were misleading and caused private home owners to waste money on renovations, estate agents said on Tuesday.
According to some of the estate agencies responsible for property rentals to foreign visitors during the tournament, only a fraction of the rooms purportedly needed for the promised tourists have been let out.
"The perception fed to us by Match and FIFA was totally wrong," said Sherril Baard, founder of 2010 Property Rentals. "We kept being told that every area was 50 000 beds short."
According to Baard, only 40% of their properties were rented out to visitors, attained by a realistic pricing strategy.
FIFA's accommodation agent, Match, relinquished more than 450 000 of the bed nights it initially reserved for local hotels and guest houses this year.
"Initially, I think FIFA created a hype through the expectation that half a million tourists would be coming to SA," said Seeff Properties chairperson Samuel Seeff. "The global financial crisis and the airlines pushing their prices up also frightened people away."
According to Seeff, only 10% of properties on the group's books were leased out.
'People just don't want to fly to Cape Town'"It is significantly less than we expected," he said.
Property credit bureau TPN reported on Tuesday that home owners lost between R30 000 and R50 000 they will not recoup on renovations to their properties.
"The hype surrounding potential property rentals to rich tourists for the World Cup has left many property owners out of pocket," said TPN MD Michelle Dickens.
According to Rivonia property owner Dave Light, the initial hype came from estate agents. "I was approached by an estate agency...that said I could get R14 000 per day for my 12-sleeper house."
Three weeks before the start of the World Cup, Light eventually leased his property out to a French security team for R3 500 per day for 56 days.
Another estate agency, Street Smart Properties, only secured rental for 10 of the 100 properties on its books, and then not even for the full World Cup period.
Baard said last year her agency was inundated with calls from home owners who wanted to make a killing during the tournament.
"By the end of 2009, all the people who had done all that footslogging (taking pictures, upgrading their houses, making them beautiful) had been left in the lurch," said Baard.
Baard said all 2010 Property Rentals' Johannesburg properties have been let, but none in Cape Town where the agency is based. "People just don't want to fly to Cape Town - it's too far and too expensive.
"If we ever get the Olympics we're going to have the same abortion as this," said Baard.
- Fin24.com