Irish eye the bargains in the South African sun

Imagine a gorgeous colonial-style property overlooking Bantry Bay, with a swimming pool and staff quarters. For less than £400,000? It couldn't be Bantry Bay in west Cork because the price would be £1 million-plus. No, it's Cape Town, where house prices are low compared with Ireland and where an increasing number of Irish buyers are heading in search of property bargains.

Inquiries have increased at such a rate that South Africa's largest estate agency, Pam Golding, has sent a team of people to stage an exhibition of South African property in Dublin. It opens tomorrow in the Shelbourne Hotel and will run for two days, in conjunction with Hamilton Osborne King.

The Pam Golding agency, whose clients include Nelson Mandela and Earl Spencer, handles a huge variety of property priced from under £100,000 to well over £3 million.

Director Andrew Golding is optimistic about doing business in Dublin. "We are bringing this show to Dublin for the first time because we've seen that the Irish are very much in the market for our property. In the last two years, more and more Irish people have come to South Africa either directly to buy, or as tourists who then decide to invest in property.

"We offer fairly significant value for money compared to other holiday homes destinations. For instance, a four-bedroom home with pool and tennis on an acre of land in an exclusive area of Cape Town would cost about £175,000." Central to tomorrow's exhibition will be a computerised display of over 5,000 properties. These include ocean-front homes in Cape Town and luxury apartments along the Garden Route.

Mr Golding, a former doctor who gave up medicine to join the real estate business set up by his mother 35 years ago, says that traditionally much of the company's overseas business has come from the UK but that now Irish buyers are making an impact.

"Typically, people are looking for investment property and there are good opportunities to be had, particularly in agri-tourism, such as game reserves and wineries."