SA properties have taken centre stage at this year's Mipim summit, probably the world's biggest property show. Three of 15 projects chosen by judges to be featured out of hundreds are local.

Mipim organisers are tight-lipped, but the FM understands that Blythedale, the KwaZulu Natal north coast development by the Elan group, is one of the chosen projects. The other two are property funds.

About 25 000 buyers, sellers, developers, investors and financiers gather in Cannes, in the south of France, each March for a deal-making binge. With 15 exhibition halls at the Palais des Festivals, it is almost impossible to spot every opportunity, or find a possible partner, client or financier.

So this year Reed Mipim, the organisers, are copying speed-dating techniques by "speed matching" property funds and projects with investors.

The projects and funds will be paraded briefly in front of VIPs, and investors attracted to a particular development will then be given seven minutes each with the developers or fund managers of their choice to decide whether to take the relationship further.

"We will divulge more information on the projects and why the judges have chosen them at the speed matching," says Reed's Audrey Hajiaaj.

She would not reveal the criteria used by the judges. However, it is believed that SA's low property prices and high returns are an important attraction for them.

Article from: www.businessday.co.za