Latest news with #prefabricatedhomes
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussie couple reveal 'cheaper' $400,000 housing solution as Commonwealth Bank backs growing trend
A Sunshine Coast couple have shared how they are building a home for $400,000 and it'll take just 16 weeks to complete. Prefabricated homes are typically cheaper and faster than building a home on site, and experts believe they will play an important role in fixing Australia's housing shortage. Sarah Kenny and husband Scott are preparing to move into their new prefab home in the coming weeks. The 42-year-old account manager told Yahoo Finance she decided to look into prefab homes after running into difficulties finding a builder to construct a home on their sloping block of land. 'It fitted within our budget and build time frame, without putting too much stress on building a home,' she said. RELATED Parent's $1 million property gift for 4-year-old in growing inheritance trend Major warning after Aussie receives random $350 payment in her bank account Terrifying superannuation reality facing 4.3 million Australians hoping for comfortable retirement The couple paid just over $400,000 for the home, which is roughly 95 square metres and includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open plan kitchen and lounge area, and a deck. Kenny said it was much cheaper than building a home on site, with the couple previously quoted about $700,000 to build a home of a similar size with a similar layout. 'It was a lot cheaper, it's definitely a cheaper option to go that way and it's been really quick,' she said. 'It's really no different than if it was being built on the land. You don't have to worry about the weather, everything's done inside the factory.' The couple bought their 12-acre block of land about three years ago for about $800,000 and used the equity to finance the prefab home. 'It's on site at our property now and the builders are there finishing off the final touches and what they need to do,' Kenny said. 'We've still got to wait for the plumber and electrician to come and join it up to the power and sort out the septic. 'So we're just waiting for those couple of trades and a few bits and pieces. So we're still a couple of weeks away from moving in, but we're nearly there.' Commonwealth Bank offers loans for prefab homes Australia's biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, announced earlier this year that it would offer home loans for prefab homes in a banking first and has now launched its list of assessed manufacturers. Homeowners previously had to pay up to 90 per cent of construction costs for prefab homes, with banks only lending the final 10 per cent once the home had been transported to the site. Borrowers can access up to 80 per cent of the contract price if they go with an assessed manufacturer, under the bank's policy, or up to 60 per cent if they go with another manufacturer. CBA executive general manager home buying Marcos Meneguzzi said the policy meant customers could now access funding during the off-site construction phase and wouldn't have to fund this by themselves. 'Customers building with a CommBank Assessed Manufacturer will now be able to access more funding upfront providing even greater financial flexibility,' he said. "We are committed to helping more Australians achieve their homeownership goals and believe this change will open the door for more people to explore prefabricated home construction as a potentially faster building method." CBA has also announced it is backing modular home builder Oly Homes, one of its assessed manufacturers, alongside Modscape, JMB Constructions, Prebuilt and Saltair Modular. The bank said the funding would support the construction of a new factory on the Sunshine Coast and allow the builder to increase its output from around 200 to 550 homes per year. CBA group executive business banking, Mike Vacy-Lyle, said the manufacturer was able to build and install a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house in just nine weeks. 'Imagine what could be achieved if this innovative housing model was more widely adopted — bringing more homes to market quickly and easing housing accessibility and affordability pressures across Australia,' he said. The Australian government invested $54 million in the federal budget to support the construction of prefab and modular homes. It comes as the government pledges to build 1.2 million homes by 2029.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Some Americans are rushing to pay less than $20K for 2-bedroom tiny houses on Amazon - but here's the catch
Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. Imagine buying a home for less than a Honda Civic, ordering the house to your location, and unpacking your new home on top of your property. A two-bedroom prefabricated home recently sold out on Amazon. The house, which was listed at $19,000, featured a toilet and shower, a living room and a kitchen. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) You don't have to be a millionaire to gain access to this $1B private real estate fund. In fact, you can get started with as little as $10 — here's how The mostly metal home folds out from its package to reveal a fully assembled single-story structure, complete with a porch, staircase and gable roof overhang. The manufacturer claims the house is built to last 15 years. It's unclear exactly how many people have bought tiny homes on Amazon, but it is estimated that there are over 10,000 tiny homes in the U.S., including billionaire Elon Musk's recently-launched tiny modular homes, starting at $10,000. While these viral tiny homes on Amazon may seem like a quick and affordable way to get on the property ladder, there's a catch — issues like poor reviews, lack of instructions, and limited space can make them more hassle than they're worth. If you're looking to get on the property ladder, there may be better, hassle-free investments for your hard-earned cash. Following the trend of social media personalities, Nathan Graham and Jeffrey Bryant have posted viral videos on YouTube and TikTok, unboxing tiny homes purchased from Amazon. Graham's five-part TikTok series, with over 20 million views, shows him and his friends unpacking a $17,000 Chery Industrial Expandable Prefab House. Despite no assembly instructions or reviews, Graham found the home easy to set up. On the other hand, Bryant's video, with over 9 million views, reveals mixed feelings about his $26,000 tiny home, highlighting both its quality and limitations. The doors and bathroom appear OK, but Bryant notes he can touch the ceiling without fully extending his arm despite being five-foot-eight. 'I don't even know where I'm going to put the house,' a remorseful-sounding Bryant said. Bryant's issue shows how the valuations of tiny homes can be misleading. Buying a traditional house comes with the property it's already sitting on. Not so for a tiny home. Connecting your home to the local electricity grid can cost up to $1,500 if you're near a utility pole, and up to $5,000 if you're on a rural property. Then there's the plumbing. Some municipalities charge $3,000 for a water meter while sewer lines cost up to $180 per foot. Tiny home occupants hoping to live off the grid can install solar panels and a septic tank, which come with their own costs. Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — Getting on the property ladder doesn't have to mean downsizing, or settling for a home that looks like a box. Whether you have $20,000, $50,000, or $100,000 to invest, there are innovative ways to enter the real estate market without sacrificing quality or taking on excessive risk. The $36 trillion U.S. home equity market has historically been the exclusive playground of large institutions. New investing platforms are making it easier than ever to tap into the real estate market. For accredited investors, Homeshares gives access to the $36 trillion U.S. home equity market, which has historically been the exclusive playground of institutional investors. With a minimum investment of $25,000, investors can gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top U.S. cities through their U.S. Home Equity Fund — without the headaches of buying, owning or managing property. With risk-adjusted internal returns ranging from 12% to 18%, this approach provides an effective, hands-off way to invest in owner-occupied residential properties across regional markets. If you're not an accredited investor, crowdfunding platforms like Arrived allows you to enter the real estate market for as little as $100. Arrived offers you access to shares of SEC-qualified investments in rental homes and vacation rentals, curated and vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it easy to fit these properties into your investment portfolio regardless of your income level. Their flexible investment amounts and simplified process allows accredited and non-accredited investors to take advantage of this inflation-hedging asset class without any extra work on your part. Another avenue for real estate investing is commercial real estate. First National Realty Partners allows individual investors to access grocery-anchored commercial real estate investments with a minimum of $50,000. With FNRP, investors own a share of properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods, Kroger and Walmart, providing a stable, positive cash flow without the worry of tenant costs and management. Accredited investors can use their secure platform to explore available deals, engage with experts, and access the potential for quarterly returns. Here are the 6 levels of wealth for retirement-age Americans — are you near the top or bottom of the pyramid? This tiny hot Costco item has skyrocketed 74% in price in under 2 years — but now the retail giant is restricting purchases. Here's how to buy the coveted asset in bulk Car insurance in America could climb to a stunning $2,502/year on average — but here's how 2 minutes can save you more than $600 in 2025 Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it Money doesn't have to be complicated — sign up for the free Moneywise newsletter for actionable finance tips and news you can use. This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Travel + Leisure
07-07-2025
- Business
- Travel + Leisure
Amazon Listed a Cabin-style Tiny Home With 2 Bedrooms, Tons of Natural Light, and Solar Panels for Under $10K
I've been living in New York City for almost five years and have always rented my apartments, but I dream of one day owning a home with enough space to store my entire luggage collection (and then some). Instead of spending all of my travel savings on a traditional home, I'm relying on Amazon's more affordable prefabricated tiny houses to make that dream a reality. The online retailer's outdoor store is stocked with customizable tiny homes, including this luxury cabin-inspired design that has two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a bathroom. It's less than $10,000, which is a major steal compared to the six- and seven-figure traditional homes in my area, and the entire space can be customized. Keep reading to learn why it's the perfect space for a rent-free home, a cabin for camping, or a backyard guest house. Off-Grid Tiny Home Kit Amazon Lily Wang, a product manager for the tiny house manufacturing company ZHong Machinery, described this model as one of their most 'hot selling' homes—and we can see why. It comes practically move-in ready with insulation, windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical outlets pre-installed, a full bathroom with a toilet and full-sized shower, as well as a kitchen. Plus, half of the front of the house is covered in floor-to-ceiling windows to help drench the space in natural light, which is especially beneficial for morning yoga sessions. Amazon The manufacturer even gives you the power to customize the tiny house, too. You can switch up the exterior color and type of flooring for no extra cost. You can also increase the size of the home to 800 square feet and go up to three bedrooms. Those personalizations come at a cost, but they're worth it if you need the extra space or want to add an office or guest bedroom. If you want to make the home even more energy efficient, you can have solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system included in the design, which will capture water that you can use for drinking, washing dishes, and more—and help cut down on your water and electric bill, saving you more money in the long run. You'll just need to contact the company through WhatsApp with all of your customization requests. Amazon Amazon Constructing the house won't take a lot of time either, thanks to its easy foldable design. All you have to do is unfold the walls and install them into place—no need to construct the walls piece-by-piece as if you were building a traditional house from scratch. Then you can have fun incorporating your own furniture and favorite home decor. Amazon also has a wide selection of home accessories to make your new house feel complete. Shop our top picks below to give the space a cozy upgrade. Shop Tiny House Essentials at Amazon Beckham Hotel Collection Standard Bed Pillows Amazon Gorilla Grip Bath Mat Amazon Utopia Bedding Queen Sheet Set Amazon Caraway Nonstick Ceramic Cookware 12-piece Set Amazon Bissell CleanView XR 200 Cordless Vacuum Amazon Love a great deal? Sign up for our T+L Recommends newsletter and we'll send you our favorite travel products each week.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alberta modular housing companies awaiting details of Ottawa's plan
Matthew Lohnes stands between two halves of a house under construction in a large warehouse in east Edmonton. The floor manager at Total Modular gestures toward the rooms in the house. "You've got your kitchen, dining room, living room," Lohnes said. "Everything is totally completed when we go to send it. Even shower rods." What's different about this home is how it's constructed. Lohnes, a veteran of the construction industry, said the completed halves will be sent by truck to the client's site, where they are joined into one structure, put onto pilings, and hooked up to utilities. The houses are built in stages entirely inside the 65,000-square-foot warehouse. The floors are built in one stage, walls are framed and wired in another. When the house is complete, it sits at the end of the line near a warehouse door, waiting for a truck to load and take it away. Modular housing can be built in a matter of weeks with less waste and downtime compared to traditional stick-built housing that is constructed outdoors and on site. Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to modular and prefabricated housing as one way to build hundreds of thousands of homes needed to ease Canada's current shortage. He is promising to create a new housing industry relying on these non-traditional construction methods. Mark Norris, a former Alberta cabinet minister, is the owner of Total Modular, which was founded in 2008. He supports Carney's goals but says the prime minister needs to consult with the industry first. "You don't have to reinvent the model," Norris told CBC News. "You just have to talk to us about how to implement it the best. And if that's the case, then I think we could have a real home run." He said modular manufacturers could build the homes in conjunction with developers who would handle the land development issues. Total Modular supplies housing and offices to remote locations where there is a shortage of traditional construction companies. Norris said he has no problem finding tradespeople because they love working away from the elements and close to home. Modern Modular, based in Nisku, also builds its homes entirely indoors. The company started by building homes and offices inside shipping containers. The founders expanded into housing that used a different footprint but the same esthetic five years ago. WATCH| Can modular home building solve Canada's housing crisis? Dustin Anderson, one of the co-owners, said the company started with the aim of building infill houses and backyard suites in large cities. But delays with permits forced them into building recreational properties in more rural parts of Alberta and B.C. Anderson said modular homes have to be built to a national standard called CSA A277, which requires factories to undergo quarterly inspections. Despite those stringent requirements, Anderson said his company faces long waits for permits from some municipalities. He said a house could be built and put on site in six weeks. Instead, the wait can average six months. Anderson would like the federal government to use incentives to encourage municipalities to speed up that process. He said Modern Modular has about eight completed homes waiting on site. "Pretty much every one of them is gonna be sitting in our yard completed, waiting for somebody to kind of check the final box to say we can ship it," he said. "It's definitely been a hassle for us." Anderson said he would be interested in hearing what the federal government could offer to help accelerate what his company could produce. "There's a massive need for what we're doing," he said. Both Norris and Anderson said the many in general public think the houses are like the mobile homes of 50 to 60 years ago. Sandeep Agrawal, a professor in the school of urban and regional planning at the University of Alberta, said the public may need to be educated on what they are. "I think societally we are still not as accepting of modular homes as we should be," he said. "This is the stage to experiment and showcase and tell people look, it is a modular home and unconventionally built, but it looks the same because at the moment people have this mental block." Carney has so far announced the broad strokes of the plan that the Liberal Party described as "most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War, which promises to "get the federal government back into the business of home building" by creating a new Crown corporation. Norris said he would love to give the prime minister advice on how to execute the plan, noting he attended high school with Carney in west Edmonton and remains acquaintances with him. "Mark, call me," Norris said. "I'm happy to help you and get it over the finish line."
Globe and Mail
13-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Falling home prices could mean trouble for Canada's GDP and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of June 13
This week, a Toronto real estate developer is getting back in the prefabricated home business. Plus, why Canada can't lean on the housing industry for economic growth, and one property worth a look. Try The Globe's business and investing news quiz With tariffs, low oil prices and an existential threat to Canada's auto sector, the economy could use a quick fix to stimulate some growth. But, as Tim Kiladze writes, there's a problem: the sector that Canadian policy makers often turn to for a sugar high, housing, has only the faintest heartbeat. Despite falling interest rates, home sales are still stagnating, and Canada is coming to terms with how interconnected the economy has become with a growing housing market. The trouble isn't simply that fewer people are buying homes, subduing growth. A weak housing market could actually make Canada's GDP shrink — although Kiladze says not relying on housing to juice up growth could lead the country to actually come to grips with some deeper structural problems. In the late 1990s, real estate developer Peter Gilgan attempted to start a prefabricated homes business, only to shutter the venture about a decade later. But now, as Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his plans to harness prefab homes in an effort to speed up home building, Mr. Gilgan says the climate appears to be more conducive to giving it another try. As Sean Silcoff and Rachelle Younglai write, Mr. Gilgan's new venture, Stelumar, will focus on making modular parts and components for six-storey condo buildings with one- to three-bedroom units. Younglai told me that many politicians likely believe prefab homes can alleviate Canada's housing problem because accelerating the pace of home building sounds like an easy fix, but it might not address the whole picture. 'It is true that it can take years to build homes,' she said. 'But a significant portion of that time is not in the construction but in getting the proper zoning, government approvals, local buy-in, new infrastructure and building permits.' But she said that Canada's harsh weather does tend to slow down or stop construction, so homebuilding could speed up if parts of it are moved to an indoor factory. The government is proposing to cut its 5-per-cent GST entirely for first-time buyers who are purchasing a new or substantially renovated home valued at $1-million or less, and to partially cut the GST for new homes valued between $1-million and $1.5-million. As Salmaan Farooqui writes, the subsidy of about $27,000 could be provided to more than 71,000 prospective homebuyers. Farooqui told me that experts believe there will be some positive impact on sales, but it'll be a pretty limited one. 'That could be a good thing: too much stimulus would just bring prices up and negate any benefit of the tax cut,' he said. Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, June 12. As the housing market slows down across the country, sellers have had to get in an effort to make a sale. This 70-year-old bungalow near the MacKenzie Ravine and North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton was priced under $700,000 to draw a crowd. More than 30 buyers booked individual tours with others attending an open house event. In the end, it sold for $30,000 over the asking price — in no small part due to its unique design. The home has a mix of original and modern features, including mid-century modern details such as a low sloped roofline and exposed wood. 17 Collins St., Yarmouth, N.S. – Full gallery here This four-bedroom heritage home is one of only two mansions built in Nova Scotia in the Queen Anne Revival style. The house has a storied history — first built for one of Yarmouth's most prominent doctors, then used by the federal government as a barracks for the Canadian Women's Army Corps, then converted in a public library, and finally turned into rentals and a bed and breakfast. The owners said it took three years to restore the house to its former glory. The property welcomes visitors through a veranda that overlooks the historic district of Yarmouth. It wraps around the front of the house and connects to the entrance of the conservatory. Inside, a French glass door opens to a conservatory that has floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows and a skylit roof.
