New R84 billion smart city launching soon in South Africa

Balwin Properties says it is making headway in its residential development at the Mooikloof Smart City in Gauteng.

In the group’s results for the six months ended 31 August 2023, Balwin said that the number of its developments continued to increase, with further investment in infrastructure in Tswhane and the completion of the Lifestyle Centre at Munyaka in Waterfall.

“The infrastructure costs were incurred to install bulk services in the Tshwane node, which are required to obtain council approval for the registration of the initial phases of apartments at Greenkloof, the first development within Mooikloof Smart City,” the group said.

“Four phases, comprising approximately 160 apartments, are planned for handover in the second half of the financial year at this particular development.”

The Mooikloof Mega City is a public/private collaboration and was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020.

The development had a total project value of more than R84 billion and was one of the 62 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) gazetted in 2020. 

When the project launched, Balwin said that it wanted to build an initial 16,000 apartments at a cost of roughly R9.6 billion in phases.

Looking through the results, the group said that it has 2,500 apartments being actively constructed at Greenkloof – with 124 apartments sold thus far. It also has an additional 10,234 apartments for Mooikloof Smart City, but these are currently inactive.

The Smart City also has plans to feature schools, shops, and offices once completed, which should all feature green building principles.

Images of the development can be found below;

Financials

Despite several further developments in the pipeline, Balwin said that the challenging macroeconomic environment due to growing interest rates, high inflation and load shedding hit consumer demand, loan affordability and investment in fixed property.

“As a result of ongoing macro-economic headwinds and reduced consumer demand, Balwin recognised 834 apartments in revenue for the period, a 39% reduction from the 1 360 apartments recognised in revenue for the prior comparative six-month period,” the group said.

However, the group’s management team was able to minimise the contraction in apartment sales as management’s prior focus on reducing gross margins in prior reporting periods gains stream.

Thus, the group’s gross profit margin grew from 26% in the prior corresponding period to 33%.

“Balwin’s annuity businesses showed robust volume growth. The majority of revenue is derived from infrastructure assets such as fibre networks and estate support services,” it added.

“Other contributors included fee-based income such as mortgage origination as well as rental income from the modest rental property portfolio and head office.”

Despite still showing a profit, the group decided not to declare a dividend for the period due to a difficult economic environment characterised by a longer period of higher interest rates and a suppressed market.

The group’s financials can be found below:

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