{"id":175033,"date":"2017-05-15T11:17:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T09:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=175033"},"modified":"2017-05-15T11:17:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T09:17:02","slug":"sa-firm-cashes-in-on-south-africas-biggest-property-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/175033\/sa-firm-cashes-in-on-south-africas-biggest-property-trend\/","title":{"rendered":"SA firm cashes in on South Africa&#8217;s biggest property trend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JSE-listed homebuilder, Balwin, continues to cash in on the trend in South Africa\u2019s property industry for sectional-title residential estate living, after reporting a 30% rise in revenue for the year ended February 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Balwin had 13 developments under construction during the period, and in line with its forecast, sold 2,711 apartments at an average selling price of R995,000 per unit.<\/p>\n<p>Revenue increased 30% to R2.7 billion and gross margin remained on target at 37% in spite of an increase in construction related costs. ]<\/p>\n<p>Profit for the period improved 18% to R661 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Revenue rose 30% to R2.7 billion;<\/li>\n<li>HEPS and EPS up 7% each to 141 cents;<\/li>\n<li>Final dividend of 31 cents declared, a 48% increase;<\/li>\n<li>2,711 apartments handed over, of which 2,234 registered;<\/li>\n<li>Cash balance of R547 million;<\/li>\n<li>Solid demand sustained with 1,283 apartments pre-sold for FY 2018;<\/li>\n<li>Significant current pipeline of 33,786 units to be developed over approximately 10 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Balwin, which listed on the JSE in October 2015, targets high-growth, high-density metropolitan nodes in South Africa\u2019s major cities,<\/p>\n<p>The group&#8217;s estates average in size between 500 and 1,000 units, offering buyers two and three bedroom apartments ranging in size from 45 square metres to 120 square metres.<\/p>\n<p>Balwin said it sells 20 to 25 units per location, per month, targeting a profit margin of between 35% and 40%.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/164051\/new-r4-2-billion-residential-development-brings-the-beach-to-pretoria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New R4.2 billion development \u2018brings the beach to Pretoria&#8217;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The property group launched six new developments during the financial year:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Malakite and Amsterdam in Johannesburg;<\/li>\n<li>Grove Lane and The Blyde in Pretoria;<\/li>\n<li>The Sandown in the Western Cape;<\/li>\n<li>The Polo Fields, Balwin\u2019s first development in Waterfall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Steve Brookes, CEO and founder of Balwin noted that the company <\/span>acquired a parcel of land in Ballito, Durban which earmarks its entrance into the KwaZulu-Natal housing market.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the land acquired can accommodate over 2,500 apartments which will be developed over a period of eight years with development expected to be launched during the current financial year.<\/p>\n<p>KwaZulu-Natal is a strategic growth area for Balwin and the Company aims to acquire further land for development. Balwin has opened an office in Umhlanga as a result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe acquisition of a parcel of land in Ballito, Durban marks Balwin\u2019s entrance into the KwaZulu-Natal housing market, a strategic objective identified at the time of listing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our secured development pipeline has been extended to 33 786 apartments to be rolled out over approximately ten years which will sustain our future growth,&#8221; <span lang=\"EN-GB\">Brookes<\/span> said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are mindful of the challenging economic conditions that lie ahead. Balwin&#8217;s business model allows for flexibility to rapidly adapt to prevailing market conditions and reduce risk,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Balwin was Brookes in 1996, with its first development &#8211; a small 50 unit sectional-title development in the south of Johannesburg &#8211; selling for R99,000 per unit.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/143995\/the-big-business-of-storage-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The big business of storage in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Balwin continues to cash in on the trend in South Africa\u2019s property industry for sectional-title residential estate living, after reporting a 30% rise in revenue for the year ended February 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":175037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[11909,26],"class_list":["post-175033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-balwin","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175033"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175051,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175033\/revisions\/175051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}