Millennials, never a generation that has been known to shy away from bucking trends or the established order, may be about to do so again. The average size of a single-family home is as big as it has ever been, but for Millennials looking to move out of Mom and Dad’s house, it may be in their better interests to search for their own cozy hobbit-size home.
Tiny homes and tiny home communities have been gaining steam recently, and they might be in the process of transitioning from quirky oddities to starter-home necessities. These tiny house communities are typically made up of houses around 300-square-feet or less and are designed for residents looking for homes that are inexpensive and easy to maintain, Fusion.net reports.
If you are having trouble picturing a 300-square-foot home, imagine an adult-sized playhouse. They have a bed, a kitchen, closet and storage space, and a bathroom all strategically placed in a foundationless structure with a mouse-sized footprint.
San Diego is about to launch its first tiny home community, a newly constructed neighborhood of 50 tiny houses and 33 percent of the clientele for the community is under the age of 35. Places like Portland and Washington, D.C. already have tiny house communities and, together with San Diego, these three cities all share the trait of having high or quickly increasing rents, making saving for a more traditional home very difficult for many young people.
Part of what is so appealing about tiny house communities to Millennials is that they tend to offer the urban amenities Millennials love without the sky high rents typically associated with this type of living. With the dearth of new starter home construction, these tiny homes and tiny home communities are filling a need and helping to rectify a situation that was growing increasingly dire.
