Tall & Urban News

JSE-listed Balwin Properties has announced its new Wedgewood development – an apartment high-rise in Sandton which offers a number of unique features including a five-a-side soccer field and outdoor cinema.

The R1.6 billion (US$103 million) 20-story development will officially begin apartment sales on 21 November 2020, with the cost of a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment starting at R799,000 (US$51,894).

Balwin chief executive Steve Brookes told Moneyweb that Wedgewood is the property group’s first high-rise development and represents a push to create more inclusive housing in the country.

“With 1,340 units, it’s a monster in terms of size. The development, called Wedgewood Sandton, will be launched later this month (November) and is part of our bigger vision around creating more inclusive housing in the country,” he said.

Brookes added that Wedgewood Sandton will be in one of the country’s most prime nodes, just 200 meters from the Gautrain Sandton Station. The development is largely targeted at the first-time homebuyers’ market, he said.

The Wedgewood is the latest development from Balwin which is targeting an inclusive housing model.

In September 2020, the group announced that it would work alongside government as part of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s development plan to build the Mooikloof Mega-City in the east of Pretoria.

Balwin said it plans to build an initial 16,000 apartments at a present value of approximately R9.6 billion (US623 million) in phases over the next few years in what it describes as the one of the world’s largest sectional title development.

This may be extended to up to 50,000 apartments with a total development value of approximately R44 billion in today’s terms, the group said. Apartment prices will range from R499,000 to R799,000 (US$32,000 to US51,000).

Balwin said that the project will provide a much needed economic injection in a post-Covid-19 environment, creating approximately 115,000 direct and indirect job opportunities throughout its lifecycle.

The mega-city has been designated as a strategic integrated project by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission Council.

This means that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure will pay for all external bulk services installations such as water, sewer, electricity, roads and storm water in respect of the megacity.

“This is in an effort by the government to boost the economy post Covid-19 and to create employment through infrastructure development,” it said.

“National Treasury has also recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Development Bank of South Africa in terms of which a R100 billion (US$6.4 billion) infrastructure fund will be available to facilitate infrastructure development in South Africa.”

Steve Brookes, founder, and chief executive of Balwin, said that the Mooikloof Mega City has been designed specifically for the GAP housing market which can be defined as housing opportunities for people earning a combined monthly income between R3,501 and R18,000 (US$227 to US$1,169). 

“These are the income earners who earn too much to get a free house from the government and earn too little to get a bank bond.

“Accordingly, first time home buyers and qualifying individuals will have assistance through the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP). The FLISP subsidy grants first time home buyers a subsidy towards the purchase of a home of between R27,960 up to a maximum of R121,626 (US$1,816 to US$7,900).

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