Micro Appartments

[Moneyman_85]

Thoughts on these guys/girls................

http://www.realestate.com.au/blog/micro-apartments-a-growing-trend/?_t=555314999&_r=NH_editorial

 

[EN710]

There're some older thread on this I think.

The simple answer personal answer is... No please. I'm happy to see them in IKEA, not real life living. Might work for some people though.

P.S. Also, even if available, I think financing that apartment will be quite difficult unless you have big deposit

 

[nhg]

They make sense to me.

Most friends don't cook, they eat out, so no need for kitchen. Shared laundry, no problem, public transport, no need for garage.

No real need for all that space. IMO that is the way I'd like Australia to progress. Not so much the micro apartments, but switching back to smaller dwellings focused on use and not ego.

 

[Moneyman_85]

I was wondering about finance too. Don't some 1 bedders still have to be over a certain square metre size.

Wonder how the overseas banks view these places.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

I'm sceptical. Personally, I want as little space as possible. But I still want a decent amount of room. Keep in mind, Melbourne and Sydney are not New York! People in NYC live in spaces like this out of necessity, not choice.

Here, we have significantly more room to move and have the luxury of being given the option of a larger (even if still small) living area.

I live in St Kilda and frankly, cannot see the demand for spaces like this. The number of 1 bedroom places available for rent is pretty comfortable; when I was looking for a place to rent, I was the only one turning up to most inspections.

 

[Redom]

Not entirely sure whether Australia has the population to need this type of dwelling. It really isnt all that attractive to me personally, but others may have different views.

From a financing angle, apartments of this size (sub 30 sqm) are likely to be case by case depending on the lender...you could safely assume that it would be very difficult getting a high LVR loan.

But then again, if they grow in popularity, lenders policies towards them will change over time.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

Following on from this, I've taken a bit of an interest in tiny houses. As someone who has no intention of ever, ever, ever, ever, ever!, getting married/LTRing the thought of getting something like this is really appealing.

Buy a block of land, put a tiny house on there and save some serious money. Based on very little research (so far) the cost to build ranges from about $15,000 to $30,000. There is a guy down in Torquay that bought a block of land which is literally a stones throw from the beach and plonked a shipping container home on the block.

Here are a few examples:

http://www.tinyhouses.com.au/content/products

 

[Richard Feynman]

There're some older thread on this I think.

Yep:

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86330


Micro apartments are not for everyone but think if people were able to get finance for such purchases. Consider how many could buy into the market that they're currently priced out of, getting a foot on the ladder and be able to live in the midst of the action and have the security of home ownership to boot.

These things would totally suit the types of young professionals who spend most of their time eating out, hanging out, or at work.

As I mentioned in the thread I posted last year, I would thrive in less than 30sqm if it was functional, and I could store my bike outside my apartment.

 

[serendip]

I know a few ppl who live in the city Mon-Thurs and go home to the family for the weekend, commuting daily is a bit of a killer from Central coast/Newcastle/south coast etc I wonder if this type of arrangement will become more popular as the cost of housing within an easy commute gets harder.

 

[tobe]

What is this???!!! A centre for ANTS???!!!!


Zoolander, one of my all time greatest films...

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

zoolander, one of my all time greatest films...

You heard it here first, folks. Ben Stiller is posting on Somersoft under the moniker 'tobe'.

 

[antistar]

I've spent a bit of time in Tokyo and this sort of thing is everywhere and very popular. In some of the more central parts of the city (Shinjuku, Shibuya) it's actually not far from the standard. For single people living very active lives micro accommodation is all that would be required. There are thousands of young single people in Melbourne atm that are sharing accommodation with strangers due to lack of affordable private accommodation but would love to get their own place even if micro. The city is not ready for it yet but as a general direction I would welcome more of these in the CBD. Would welcome and buy up of course if the location is right.

 

[Phiber]

Having lived in shared accommodation with random strangers for years, I definitely agree that having my own micro place would have been absolutely great. There is nothing like having a place to yourself really. Having my own room (not shared) was already a luxury though.