Like many countries around the world going through a very fast urbanisation process, South Africa faces a significant housing shortage, especially in and around large urban centres. Public housing schemes, as well as conventional commercial property development, are unable to cover demand. As a result, many thousands of South Africans rent so-called “backyard dwellings”, often in the form of makeshift structures adjacent to a main property. However, many home owners lack access to formal funding solutions to expand their homes or build decent backyard dwellings that can be rented out. Bitprop was founded in 2019, initially on a proof-of-concept basis, helping property owners to unlock such “dead assets” in the form of unused or underused land, and empower them to turn their property into an income-generating asset.

Bitprop helps to fund, design, build, maintain and insure small studio apartments for their clients, usually in the form of a 10-year partnership. Investors get a return on investment, while the property owners generate an income stream for the household.

Having successfully build a small portfolio of 500 rental units in Cape Town, Bitprop is now seeking to explore the feasibility of scaling its model beyond Cape Town (and South Africa). Additional focus areas include improving its housing portfolio maintenance processes, as well introducing and scaling sustainable construction models, including sustainable solar energy and water solutions.