The affordable housing crisis is one that is affecting millennials and those with aspirations of progressing up the property ladder alike. At present, the average one bed new build home in London will set buyers back a whopping £679,681.
This harsh reality is made even harder to swallow thanks to the fact that in most cases, a 10% deposit of the asking price is needed to secure a property.
Given these less than desirable truths, could factory-made homes help to solve the problem? Architect Richard Hywel Evans certainly seems to think so.
The nHouse
This new type of property is certainly ground-breaking and shies always from the traditional new builds we see being built up and down the country. The homes are manufactured in parts on-site and are then delivered and assembled in a location that the buyer chooses themselves.
Benefits to choosing factory-built homes
- More lightand space– The nHouse is 25% more spacious than the average new build property in the UK. Larger windows also make for light, airy spaces that buyers will love.
- Lower running costs – Thanks to a number of green features, these home will significantly reduce running costs and bills for those that choose them. Specific features include the use of carbon capturing timber and solar panels.
- Faster development – The shortage of homes in the UK means that building needs to happen fairly rapidly if it is going to keep up with increasing demand. The architects designing and building these homes make use of production line methodology, meaning that they are able to supply the homes to buyers in around half the time of average builders.
- A much lower price point – With all of these exceptional features, you’d think that purchasing one of these factory built homes would set you back a hefty amount of money. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Individual buyers will be able to a three bedroom house from £180,000.
While the merits of choosing to invest in these factory-built properties are significant, there are a number of issues that could mean that they struggle to get off the ground, one being urbanization.
Statistics have revealed that the number of people living in cities could increase to 66% of the entire world’s population by 2050. This would mean a need to move out of cities and into rural areas and is also likely to result in more flats being built in the UK.