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Balwin Properties, one of the leading residential real estate firms in South Africa, has a secured development pipeline of 43,781 apartments across 26 sites over the next 14-18 years.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company revealed the figures in its 2023 annual report presentation. 

Founded in 1996, Balwin Properties specialises in developing middle-income residential estates, comprising between 1,000 and 3,000 apartments. Its projects are focused on the Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal areas of South Africa.

Future land purchases will mainly focus on the Western Cape as the firm’s development pipeline in that area is just four years.

Balwin Properties reported revenues of Rand 3.3 billion (US$167 million) for 2022/3 financial year, which ended on 28 February. Post-tax profit for the period totalled Rand 437 million (US$22 million).

Founder and CEO Steven Brookes commented that the year ahead will be difficult due to the political environment, rising interest rates and ongoing load shedding in South Africa. 

“We will focus on building out the existing pipeline in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, with prudent land acquisitions in the Western Cape,” he said. “We expect rising interest rates and general economic pressure to temper the rate at which sales volumes have increased post-COVID.”

Brookes is a member of South Africa’s Green Buildings Council and his company applies green buildings standards to its developments. To date, 21,768 apartments have received an EDGE rating certification and another 14,000 are rated EDGE Advanced.

During the 2022/3 financial year, Balwin Properties generated 3,842MWh of electricity from 9,000 solar panels installed across its developments. To ease the disruption from load shedding, it has been installing generators and in April, fitted its first battery storage back-up solution. About 1MW of solar capacity was added over the past year.

Photo: Construction of the Whisken development (Supplied)