Designers, developers and planners are thinking about density as a way to start meeting growing demand for more affordable housing. This push for going small may also shift consumer mind set, making it a more popular and acceptable option, like these micro apartments being developed in some of the most strained markets as told by this piece from Ozy.
The lack of affordable housing and shortage of space have been two key drivers for the growth of micro housing in cities, and not just in the U.S. From Stockholm to Berlin and Mumbai to Hong Kong, micro housing projects are cropping up in big cities to cater to this demand. Globally, the micro housing industry is expected to grow by 7 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to Research and Markets, the database of industry research.
Within the U.S., 1 in 4 conventional renters told a survey by the Urban Land Institute in 2015 that they would be ready to shift to a micro apartment. In 2016, when the city of Boston unveiled a prototype of the UHU, 98 percent of the 2,000 people who visited the tiny home said they or someone they knew would benefit from the 385-square-foot apartment.
But affordability is only one part of what renters look for in micro apartments, the surveys show. Location is central: Millennials don’t want to have to worry about transportation, and furnished micro apartments are in greater demand than unfurnished ones. In the heart of a metropolitan city, though, that combination of demands is costly — even for a micro apartment, where rents in New York City typically exceed $2,000 a month.
That’s where micro apartments in well-connected suburbs, fitted with modern amenities — Amber on 11 makes it a point to describe its lofts and studios as “urban-style” — come in. These are available typically for around $850 to $1,000 in rent.
