Friday, 13 October 2017

"A cost effective solution to the nation's ongoing housing crisis". Not.

More glorious nonsense from The Daily Mail:

This stunning tiny 28-foot-long [mobile] house could be a solution to the housing crisis using a space-saving design without losing any home comforts...

Those 'tiny homes' (as beautiful as they are) require a fair bit of land, maybe 50 sq yards. They're only 'cheap' if you buy or rent a bit of land in the middle of nowhere. Try buying or renting 50 sq yards of land where housing is expensive and you are back to square one.

A block of flats with several storeys only uses ten or twenty square yards of land per flat, ergo they are cheaper than 'tiny homes', despite being a lot bigger, once you factor in the price you have to pay for the land.

But that doesn't help people wanting to rent or buy a flat. If you build higher, that doesn't reduce the selling price/rental value of the flats, it just increases the price payable for the land.

Rinse and repeat.

7 comments:

Bayard said...

A 28 foot long boat would be a better bet, or even a caravan.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B,

1. The so-called 'tiny homes' are in fact caravans/mobile homes.

2. If you own a boat you need to pay mooring fees = rent, if you own a caravan, you have to pay pitch fees = rent.

Bayard said...

Yes, but at least with a boat or a caravan you can move it easily to somewhere else, thus negating one of the disadvantages of renting, which is the hassle of moving home. Also with a caravan or boat, you can be thrown off your pitch/mooring, but not thrown out of your home.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, yes, agreed, I was agreeing with you, I was just pointing out that these 'tiny homes' ARE caravans. You can hook them up and tow them.

Bayard said...

Ah, sorry, I was distracted by the later story of the iKozie home being craned into a back garden.

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, a caravan or boat is preferable to an ikozie dumped in somebody's back garden.

Bayard said...

I think we are both agreed on that. Me, I'd go for the boat anytime, preferably something seagoing.