Almost 14 years ago, an average house in South Africa would cost about 218,000 Rand. After 5 years, this increased more than double to 500,000 rand and since then, the price of houses have been going up by about 22% per annum. These are figures released in 2004 by the Absa House price index. In that year, real estate in South Africa was peaking and the prices of houses were among the cheapest in the world. Unfortunately, in 2008 the country experienced one of its lowest points in the property investment market.