Are you micro or a macro person?
Micro Apartments
I came across this video of a tiny, tiny, TINY apartment awhile ago and thought 'wow, who would want to rent this place? But it turns out it's not as uncommon as you might think.
In expensive cities like New York (the above video) and San Francisco, people are doing what they can to downsize their possessions and their rent.
In San Francisco there is a 'Lego' development in progress which is made up of 300 sq feet (about 27 square metres) units, that are being built off site then shipped and assembled like building blocks. This sort of living definitely appeals to a certain market, with a highly organized space! But what about the other end of the scale?
McMansions
We have seen 'McMansions' for years now and have marveled at how grossly out of proportion they are, to true living requirements. These have been American 'specialities 'where all the houses look the same, all are large, but can be 'customized' to some degree.
However, there appears to be a backlash in progress. Some local governments in the US are imposing limits on the size of these 'Starter Castles'
The average American home in 2004 was 2,349 square feet, (about 218 square metres) in 1950 it was 983 square feet (about 91 square metres)! That's a 140% increase! Why did this 'Hummer Houses' get off the ground? It started with money of course. Wherever there is a lot of wealth, status symbols grow. The large houses soon became the norm. So a 'normal' size house looks small, which means to now look 'normal', your house was built bigger to look proportional and the cycle continues. But some of them have got to the point of being ridiculous.
With government bodies imposing limits and seeing more micro apartments on the rise, do you think that a balance will be found? Do you think land will run out so they have to build micro? Which would you want to live in if you had a choice?
It sure bring s up an interesting contrast.
Nice article! You definitely did a good job of explaining this issue really clearly. "There's a strong market for these micro-apartments starting up among young people," said John McIlwain, a senior fellow in housing at the Urban Land Institute. "It's not going to solve everyone's problems. But it is a piece of a solution for young folks and people of modest means who want to live alone."
ReplyDeleteProperty Investment UK
Thanks Robert. That's true, it will be the younger generations who will be more interested in the micro apartments. However, I'm sure that as we age and realise we can make better use of space, the Boomers (and the like) may start to consider them too.
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